Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
directly.on.top.of.the.NIPA.gel..In.the.gel,.the.observed.structural.color.changed.based.
on. the. volume. of. the. gel. when. the. temperature. changed.. However,. in. the. areas. of. the.
gel. strewn. with. tiny. scales. of. butterly. wings,. the. observed. structural. color. changed.
independent.of.the.volume.of.the.gel..In.this.way,.the.system.enables.the.detection.of.not.
only. temperature. changes,. but. also. the. conformational. changes. of. the. subchains. in. the.
gel.. For. example,. the. polymer. gel. could. be. modiied. to. contain. recognizable. subchains..
Once.the.target.molecules.enter.the.hydrogel.and.interact.with.the.subchain,.it.will.exhibit.
a. visible. change. of. color. to. indicate. the. conformational. change.. This. biform. structural.
colored.hydrogel.has.great.potential.to.serve.as.a.biochemical.sensors.for.rapid.detection.
of.biomolecules.
Inspired.by.butterly.wings,.nanoparticles.were.positioned.in.order.to.form.a.submonolayer,.
which. is. a. couple. of. nanometers. above. a. light. relective. surface,. forming. a. nanometric.
interference. system. with. a. tunable. color. (Assadollahi. et. al.. 2011).. In. combination. with.
microluidic. and. resonance-enhanced. absorption. of. Au/Pt. nanoparticles,. interleukin-6.
has. been. successfully. detected. with. better. sensitivity. (<500.pg/mL),. speciicity,. and.
quickness.(2-3.min)..A.polymeric.polypyrrole.(PPy).wing.replica.was.also.generated.and.
showed. signiicantly. high. sensitivity. in. response. to. dopamine. (Tang. et. al.. 2012).. These.
studies.highlight.the.feasibility.of.using.butterly-inspired.nanotechnology.in.biosensors.
9.4.1.3 Thermal Imaging Sensors
Potyrailo.and.his.team.at.General.Electric.(GE).have.recently.demonstrated.that.
Morpho
.
scales. could. serve. as. low. thermal. mass. optical. resonators. and. exhibit. rapid. and. highly.
sensitive. thermal. responses. to. temperature. changes. (Pris. et. al.. 2012).. After. heating.
the. butterly. wing,. the. vein. structure. of. the. butterly. wing. was. revealed.. The. revealed.
vein. structure. showed. its. ability. to. detect. the. change.. Artiicial. optical. resonators. were.
fabricated.by.doping.natural.
Morpho
.scales.with.single-walled.carbon.nanotubes.(SWCNT)..
The. resulting. bioinspired. resonators. modulate. the. optical. cavity. by. thermal. expansion.
and.refractive.index.change.in.response.to.midwave.infrared.radiation,.which.can.convert.
the. infrared. heat. into. visible. iridescence. changes.. These. indings. highlight. potential.
applications.as.thermal.imaging.sensors..Due.to.the.conservation.of.the.nanoscale.pitch.and.
the.extremely.small.thermal.mass.of.individual.“pixels”.of.
Morpho
.scales,.these.artiicial.
photonic.sensors.exhibited.high.sensitivity.to.temperature.change.(0.02°C-0.06°C).and.fast.
response. speed. (35-40/s). without. the. need. of. a. heat. sink. for. heat. removal.. Compared.
to.conventional.thermal.imaging,.butterly-inspired.thermal.imaging.sensor.technology.
is. simple,. can. be. manufactured. at. a. low. cost. and. has. a. very. high. sensitivity. and. heat-
sink.free.response.rate..It.offers.a.novel.approach.to.replicating.a.bionanostructure.with.
metals. and. creating. thermal. imaging. devices. for. sensitive. temperature. detection. and.
rapid. thermal. imaging.. Butterly-inspired. thermal. imaging. sensors. have. great. potential.
to.be.used.for.advanced.thermal.characterization,.imaging.and.diagnostics.for.biomedical.
applications,. advanced. thermal. vision. for. better. visualization. at. night,. ire. thermal.
imaging.for.improved.ireighter.safety,.and.thermal.security.surveillance.for.enhanced.
homeland.security.protection.
9.4.2 Display Technology
Butterly. wings. make. use. of. structural. colors. that. do. not. fade. with. time. or. light. expo-
sure. (Kinoshita. et. al.. 2002,. Liu. et. al.. 2012a);. thus,. butterly-inspired. nanostructures. are.
invaluable. to. low-energy. display. technology.. Scientists. and. engineers. have. researched.
