Scientists from Switzerland and Russia have developed a microscopic material mimicking the protective layer of a fruit fly eye.
The nanocoating, produced by researchers at University of Geneva, University of Lausanne, ETH Zurich , Switzerland, and the Far Eastern Federal University, in Vladivostok, Russia, is anti-reflective, antimicrobial, biodegradable, low-cost and has self-cleaning properties.
It has the potential to be used in medical implants, contact lenses or within the textile industry.
Published in Nature, the researchers showed how they replicated the coating by first breaking apart the components of the protective layer, identified the proteins that were responsible for the anti-reflective properties, and then reassembled the structures over glass and plastic surfaces.