Biomimicry: Chemical Sensors Borrow Design from Butterfly Wings

A team of engineers at General Electric are developing a chemical sensor which mimics the scales on a Morpho butterfly wing. Researchers were studying tiny structures of the wing's scales, which capture chemical molecules in their ridges. These lodged molecules bend light, creating the iridescent effect we all know. The question of how this happens, and what nano-mechanisms were at work to cause it, initially sparked the motivation to dig deeper.

Upon realizing this molecular trapping was creating the optical phenomenon, lead chemical sensing scientist Radislav Potryrailo and his team knew they could apply this invention of nature. By re-creating these nano-structures on small stickers, they were able to create cheap and disposable chemical sensors. The synthetic ridges are designed to capture molecules dispersed in the air from chemical explosives, and the stickers they sit on could be placed anywhere.

The stickers are the size of a penny and use 100x less energy than current, bulkier equipment we see today. With an RFID transmitter attached to the device, a simple RF scanner could pick up a signal of anomalous material caught in the nano-sensor. Potyrailo remarks on widespread potential applications of the technology:

“Our sensor could be placed as a sticker inside of a cargo container on a ship or on packaging for shipped goods. It’s a stick-it-and-forget-it kind of thing. This advance brings us closer to a future of ubiquitous testing of chemical explosives.”

It's inspiring to see how seemingly benign patterns in nature can be adapted to the kind of clear and present security threats we face today. The pace at which these discoveries can be refined and commercialized is also promising. Although this is a prototype, it showcases the pace at which we could see applications like this throughout private and public infrastructure.