• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Engineering Designer Magazine

Engineering Designer

  • Home
  • Technology
  • Education
  • Sustainability
  • Materials
  • Medical
  • Construction
  • Advertise
  • iED
You are here: Home / Materials / Shark skin and dragonfly wings inspire nanotech studies

Shark skin and dragonfly wings inspire nanotech studies

February 14, 2023 by Geordie Torr

Nanotechnology researchers at Flinders University in South Australia are looking closely, extremely closely, at shark skin and dragonfly wings in the hope of finding solutions to a number of maritime and medical mysteries. According to the researchers, the microscopic makeup of these natural surfaces may hold the key to better applications in human technologies.

Advertisement

‘Our study looked at the special structure of the ribletted surfaces of some sharks, which enable them to reduce drag and friction while also deterring microscopic marine organisms from adhering to their skin,’ said Professor Youhong Tang from the College of Science and Engineering. ‘The shape of riblets on the skin surface influences the effectiveness of the drag reduction greatly, with the riblet surfaces performing best when aligned parallel to the flow direction.’

Led by Chinese naval architecture and ocean design and engineering collaborators, the research is focusing on developing a simple biomimetic turbulent-drag-reduction topology for research modelling. This will be used to guide the design of more fuel-efficient marine surfaces for applications in cargo ship hulls and pipelines that also may not be as prone to attracting aquatic biofilm build-up, which causes drag on ship hulls.

Advertisement

Another team of researchers is investigating the antibacterial properties of insect wings. ‘The wings of dragonflies and cicadas have evolved to use the structural features of their surface to attain bactericidal properties,’ said Vi Khanh Truong from the Flinders Biomedical Nanoengineering Laboratory. ‘The nanopillars or nanospikes present on these natural materials physically damage the bacterial cells that settle on the nanostructures, resulting in cell lysis and death. This study looks at these natural surfaces to provide guidelines for the design of synthetic bio-inspired materials and also create some novel fabrication techniques used to produce biomimetic micro- and nano-structures on synthetic material surfaces.’

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria claim an estimated 700,000 lives each year. This is predicted to increase to ten million by 2050 if drug-resistant bacteria continue to evolve at the same rate. The build-up of microbial biofilms – havens for infection-causing bacteria – on hospital and instrument surfaces thus poses a significant challenge to human health.

Scientists are developing antibacterial and antifouling materials to combat the increasing risk associated with bacterial infections and the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria by developing man-made coatings made from bactericidal agents such as metal derivatives or antibiotics.

The research has been published in Sustainability and Advanced Materials Interface.

Filed Under: Materials, Medical, Sustainability, Technology

Advertisement

Primary Sidebar

SUBSCRIBE And get a FREE Magazine

Want a FREE magazine each and every month jam-packed with the latest engineering and design news, views and features?

ED Update Magazine

Simply let us know where to send it by entering your name and email below. Immediate access.

Trending

New method developed for optimising structural design

Propeller advance paves way for quiet, efficient electric aviation

Last chance to register for a trip to Mars

Mix-and-match kit could enable astronauts to build a menagerie of lunar robots

Puppet-maker innovates with 3D printing thanks to Made Smarter support

Zebra stripes inspire new flexible thermoelectric generator

Engineer designs world’s most powerful handheld laser

Blast furnace adaptation could reduce steelmaking emissions by 90 per cent

First Hydrogen releases concept sketches for its next-generation zero-emission vehicle

UCLA engineers design solar roofs for greenhouses

Footer

About Engineering Designer

Engineering Designer is the quarterly journal of the Insitution of Engineering Designers.

It is produced by the IED for our Members and for those who have an interest in engineering and product design, as well as CAD users.

Click here to learn more about the IED.

Other Pages

  • Contact us
  • About us
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • Institution of Engineering Designers

Search

Tags

ied

Copyright © 2023 · Site by Syon Media