The Science Behind Colors: From Butterflies to Nanostructures
The colors we see in the world are a result of how objects manipulate white light. For example, objects that appear red do not actually contain the color red, but rather they reflect only the red portion of the visible spectrum while absorbing other colors.Pigments and dyes achieve this through specific molecules that absorb parts of the visible spectrum except for the color they want to appear. Light interference is another way of generating colors, where certain light waves are cancelled and others are enhanced. However, this is a complex topic not covered in this article.
The Secrets of Butterfly Wings and Their Elusive Hues
Animals such as butterflies use specific shapes to generate colors, such as the blue morpho butterfly which has a highly-saturated blue color. Its wings have a complex structure that manipulates white light to create this color. While such structures can be produced under laboratory conditions using micro and nano machinings like lithography, E-beam, and direct laser writing, the process is extremely time-consuming and requires extensive experience.
The Challenges of Replicating Complex Structures for Color Generation in the Lab
To create the complex structures responsible for generating colors in animals like butterflies, micro and nano machinings such as lithography, E-beam, and direct laser writing are used in laboratory conditions.
Subsequently, it results in having a very expensive and fragile master. The last one can be normally turned into a rigid nickel mold by electroforming processes. However, the latter has fundamental problems with the cavities of such a structure. This results in the classic electroforming approach failing for such a structure type.
However, the production of such structures is extremely time-consuming and requires extensive experience, resulting in a very expensive and fragile master. This master can be turned into a rigid nickel mold using electroforming processes, but this method faces fundamental problems with the cavities of such structures, causing the classic electroforming approach to fail for this type of structure.
To replicate these micro or nanostructures with high fidelity, the electroforming process is used to transfer them from wafers or molds into a metal sheet (nickel shim). More information on this process can be found in the provided link to a video.
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More InformationThe Challenges of Replicating Complex Structures for Color Generation in the Lab
The electroforming process is used to replicate micro or nanostructure from wafers or molds and transfer them with very high fidelity into a metal sheet (nickel shim). Read more about the process here.
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