Towards high thermal stability of optical sensing materials with bio-inspired nanostructure

Abstract The optical properties of iridescent nanostructures which were found in butterfly scales were investigated under varied temperature. An amazing hierarchical nanostructure with high thermal stability was revealed for the application of bio-inspired optical materials. Relationship between thermal dilation and light reflectance of the typical iridescent nanostructures including the ridge-specialized and body-lamellae structure were carefully studied by experimental tests and computer simulation. Results of experimental tests showed the light reflectance of the body-lamellae nanostructure performed more stable. Finite element methods and FDTD (Finite-Difference Time-Domain) solutions revealed the effect of thermal dilation and structural parameters on light reflectance. The results guided the design of future optical sensing materials with a high thermo-optic stable nanostructure.