manufacture synthetic versions<\/a>, but at\u00a0a limited scale.\u00a0Now, the team\u2019s new platform can produce synthetic\u00a0brochosomes\u00a0at an estimated rate of 140,000\u00a0particles\u00a0per second \u2014\u00a0a\u00a0productivity leap\u00a0that\u00a0could finally make the\u00a0synthetic version of these particles practical for real-world technologies, Wong said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nCo-author\u00a0Jinsol\u00a0Choi, postdoctoral scholar in Wong\u2019s lab group, explained that\u00a0because many potential applications\u00a0\u2014\u00a0from\u00a0non-reflective surfaces for invisibility\u00a0cloaks\u00a0to high-surface-area catalysts and sensing materials\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 require materials\u00a0massive quantities of precisely engineered nanoparticles, the ability to mass-produce these complex structures at high speed brings them much closer to commercial use.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur group has been working on synthetic\u00a0brochosomes\u00a0for\u00a0almost a decade,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Wong,\u00a0who is also\u00a0part of the Materials Research Institute, co-authored the study outlining the work\u00a0along with\u00a0Choi.\u00a0\u201cThe advance marks a significant step forward from\u00a0our\u00a0group\u2019s\u00a0earlier efforts, which first\u00a0 demonstrated\u00a0the potential of\u00a0brochosomes\u00a0to manipulate light. The new study not only recreates their complex architecture but also shows how to manufacture them with unprecedented precision and scale. Until now, humans could not reproduce these structures at comparable scales or complexity. Their\u00a0fully 3D geometry and nanoscale features pushed\u00a0beyond what even our most advanced fabrication tools could\u00a0reliably create.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0team\u00a0began\u00a0their latest achievement\u00a0by looking closely at how leafhoppers themselves make\u00a0brochosomes. Inside the insect\u2019s Malpighian tubules, a type of internal plumbing system,\u00a0droplet-like condensates develop surface ripples, where proteins and lipids in the system undergo self-assembly to form brochosome\u00a0structures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNature is the master of nanomanufacturing,\u201d Wong said.\u00a0\u201cLeafhoppers build brochosomes\u00a0not by carving or sculpting them, but through molecular self-assembly and interfacial phenomena.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Choi led the effort to develop a synthetic version of this biological assembly line.\u00a0The team used a tiny chip with microscopic channels that create identical droplets, each\u00a0containing\u00a0specially\u00a0designed polymers made\u00a0to either\u00a0repel or attract water.\u00a0The polymers are distributed both at the surface and within the droplet, so when the droplet evaporates,\u00a0additional\u00a0polymers migrate toward the surface.\u00a0As this happens, these parts arrange themselves on the droplet’s surface, naturally creating the tiny, evenly spaced pores that give brochosomes their unique structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chemistry of the polymer determines how the droplet surface bends,\u201d Choi said. \u201cThe bending controls how water infiltrates, and the arrangement of those infiltrated droplets sets the size and shape of the pores.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
By adjusting polymer composition, molecular\u00a0length\u00a0and droplet size, the researchers were able to tune the geometry of the final particles and recreate brochosomes\u00a0similar to\u00a0those produced by different leafhopper species.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The synthetic particles also display the same optical behavior as natural brochosomes. When the team coated\u00a0surfaces\u00a0with their particles, they observed\u00a0a strong reduction in reflected light across different wavelengths and angles. The performance is difficult to achieve with conventional antireflective coatings, which typically work only at specific angles or within narrow bands of light, according to Wong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMany technologies rely on careful control of light,\u201d Wong said. \u201cCameras and sensors that struggle with glare, solar panels that lose efficiency when light bounces away, or defense optics that need reliable antireflection\u00a0to make themselves \u2018invisible,\u2019\u00a0these\u00a0all could benefit from materials that reduce reflections so strongly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond optics, the particles\u2019 hollow structure and high internal surface area suggest potential opportunities in energy and chemical research, the researchers said. Their porous shells may inspire future exploration in areas such as catalysis or\u00a0energy-storage\u00a0materials. In other fields, the particles\u2019 unique shape and light-scattering behavior could\u00a0open up\u00a0new possibilities for pigments, camouflage coatings, or chemical and biological sensing technologies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSynthetic\u00a0brochosomes\u00a0combine several unusual\u00a0features;\u00a0they\u2019re hollow, packed with tiny pores, have a large surface area and function the same from any viewing angle,\u201d Wong said. \u201cTheir potential goes well beyond reducing glare.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Medical applications\u00a0may\u00a0also\u00a0be\u00a0possible, Wong noted, explaining\u00a0that,\u00a0as the hollow, porous structure of the particles could inspire future research into drug delivery or imaging-related materials.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, synthetic\u00a0brochosomes\u00a0are not just optical materials,\u201d\u00a0Choi\u00a0said. \u201cThey\u2019re a versatile new platform that could impact fields from clean energy and pigments to protective coatings and medical technologies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
What truly distinguishes the new platform is its speed, Choi said. Traditional methods of nanofabrication may produce only a few particles per second, often requiring multiple complex steps.\u00a0This\u00a0system, by contrast,\u00a0leverages\u00a0self-assembly to generate\u00a0more than 100,000\u00a0fully formed particles every second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the structure essentially builds itself from the bottom up, we achieve both nanoscale precision and extremely high production speed,\u00a0mimicking how biology constructs nanoscale architectures,\u201d Wong said. \u201cThis level of detail and throughput simply isn\u2019t achievable using conventional approaches.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Next,\u00a0the researchers plan to\u00a0further scale up the microfluidic platform, increasing the production rate by 10 to 1,000 times, and investigate optical applications as pigments as well as potential military applications.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A patent application for the technology has been filed.\u00a0The U.S. Office of Naval Research supported this research.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BYLINE: Jamie Oberdick Newswise \u2014 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. \u2014\u00a0When most people see a leafhopper in their backyard garden,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[985,2669,109379,1435,8763,85,46,7146,665,6602,983,109380,141,386],"class_list":{"0":"post-190690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-all-journal-news","9":"tag-biotech","10":"tag-brochosomesinvisibilitypenn-state-materials-research-institutepenn-state-college-of-engineering","11":"tag-energy","12":"tag-engineering","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-materials-science","16":"tag-nanotechnology","17":"tag-nature","18":"tag-newswise","19":"tag-penn-state-materials-research-institute","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}