Throughout history scientists, engineers, and designers have looked to nature for tips on how to develop advanced technologies. In a paper published in the Biophysical Journal, an international team of biophysicists detail how the surface of Clanger Cicada wings might be the key to creating antibacterial surfaces.
On the macro scale, a Clanger Cicada wing looks relatively smooth. But if you zoom down to the nanoscale, a completely different texture is revealed.
It turns out that the Clanger Cicada’s wing is, in fact, covered in an array of very, very tiny blunted spikes. When a bacterium touches the cicada’s wing, the spikes pierce its cellular membrane, pinning it in place. As bacteria generally aren’t intelligent enough to notice this, it continues to creep along, stretching the surface of its outer membrane until it snaps.
While scientists are still working to determine whether these structures could be applied to man-made materials, it’s already apparent that heavily used surfaces, from
subways handrails to home kitchens, could benefit from the Cicada wing’s antibacterial texture.
According to Anne-Marie Kietzig, a chemical engineer at McGill University, “This would provide a passive bacteria-killing surface [that] does not require active agents like detergents, which are often environmentally harmful”. Furthermore, this type of
antibacterial surface could allow us to one-up the “super-bugs” in the evolutionary arms race that has given them resistance to hand sanitizers and surface cleaners.