Microscopic textures found in nature could benefit industry

The researchers from Ohio State University were reportedly able to clean up to 85 per cent of dust from a coated plastic surface that mimicked the texture of a butterfly wing, compared with 70 per cent from a flat surface.

In a recent issue of the journal Soft Matter, the Ohio State University engineers report that the textures enhance fluid flow and prevent surfaces from getting dirty — characteristics that could be mimicked in surfaces for aircraft and watercraft, pipelines and medical equipment.

‘Nature has evolved many surfaces that are self-cleaning or reduce drag,’ said Bharat Bhushan, Ohio eminent scholar and Howard D Winbigler professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State. ‘Reduced drag is desirable for industry, whether you’re trying to move a few drops of blood through a nano-channel or millions of gallons of crude oil through a pipeline. And self-cleaning surfaces would be useful for medical equipment — catheters or anything that might harbour bacteria.’