New antibacterial nanostructure based on dragonfly wings

An international study, in which Dr. Vladimir Baulin of University Rovira i Virgili (URV) participated, paves the way for a whole new range of antibacterial materials based on the structure of insect wings, which may have industrial and biomedical applications.

Before this study, the group of researchers led by Swinburne University of Technology (Australia) had generated a new type of material able to imitate the antibacterial effects of cricket wings. They then saw that the nanoarchitecture of the surface of insect wings has bactericidal effects.

In this study, the scientists assessed and compared the bactericidal potential of the wings of one type of dragonfly (Diplacodes bipunctata) with that of synthetic black silicon, a nanostructure produced using a reactive-ion etching technique on a sheet of silicon treated with a sulfur compound. It is a fast, easy process that can be mass-produced.

The research group led by ICREA researcher Vladimir Baulin, at the URV School of Engineering, carried out the modeling of the process through which the nanometric structures in dragonfly wings, similar to black silicon, break down the bacterial cell membranes.  

The results of the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, show that, despite the chemical differences in the two surfaces, both dragonfly wings and black silicon are deadly to certain types of bacteria, like Bacillus subtilis, that are highly resistant to most sterilization methods. Moreover, they also discovered that the structure of black silicon is even more efficient than the one nature designed. Black silicon is nearly twice as effective as dragonfly wings in killing the cells of Pseudomones aeruginosa. 

This study has opened up a world of possibilities to produce a new generation of antibacterial materials.

More information is available in the paper published in Nature Communications.