More often than not, there has been a lot of technological advances and creations that have been inspired by nature, and it looks like if you’re looking forward to having truly glare-free displays in the future, it seems as though butterfly wings could be the key to unlocking that possibility.
This is according to German researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) who discovered that due to the design of the wings of the glasswing butterfly which has irregular, nanoscopic structures, this leads to wings that can come across as invisible, or to put it another way, glare-free. If the researchers are able to recreate it, it could lead to glare-free equipment in the future, such as displays, camera lenses, and so on.
When describing the glasswing butterfly, “Interestingly, the butterfly wing does not only exhibit a low reflection of the light spectrum visible to humans, but also suppresses the infrared and ultraviolet radiation that can be perceived by animals. This is important to the survival of the butterfly.” That being said, it seems that the researchers have yet to completely recreate this kind of surface in their labs.
However the researchers are in the conception phase at the moment, and one of the interesting features they have discovered in prototype experiments is that these surfaces are not only glare-free, but are also water-repellent and has a self-cleaning effect. So, a glare-free display that can repel water and keep itself clean? Sign us up!
[Image credit – Radwanul Hasan Siddique/KIT]