Vigilancia Tecnológica

This study leverages bioinspired chitinous manufacturing to artificially reproduce iridescent gratings found in the cuticles of beetles living in concealed environments. Combining this with a melanin?like background achieves a vibrant iridescence, similar to that produced by the multilayer reflectors in leaf beetles. The process allows for the controlled production of optical structures using chitinous polymers, the same components that produce color in arthropod cuticles. This not only aids in understanding the functionality and evolutionary advantages of these structures without being limited to the existing solutions in animals — which entangle the solutions for several problems with the rubble of past functionalities — but also enables the creation of color with the second most abundant organic material on Earth, only surpassed in its ubiquity by cellulose. However, unlike cellulose?based materials, the chitinous optical structures are produced by avoiding the use of strong organic solvents, representing a simplified approach to producing vibrant, iridescent, fully biodegradable, and ecologically integrated colors. We demonstrate the production of hundreds of square centimeters of iridescent chitinous surfaces, a scale suitable for imparting biodegradable color to large three?dimensional objects.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.