U of I researchers consider cicada wings for antibacterial surfaces

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Cicadas are best known for their buzzing sound, but a team of researchers from the University of Illinois are exploring a unique way they could benefit humanity.

The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology is looking at cicada wings through a process of bio-inspiration — learning from nature to develop new materials and technologies.

“We use cicadas and other insects as inspiration for engineering new materials. As biologists, we also want to be able to use these materials to then go in the opposite design direction,” said Marianne Alleyne, a professor of entomology and mechanical science and engineering at Illinois. “So, the prototypes that we created, and which may result in marketable new surfaces for various industries, can also be used to help us explain fundamental biological questions about natural selection.”

The goal is to use their antimicrobial properties to develop new antibacterial surfaces. Researchers explained that to the naked eye, cicada wings appear smooth and featureless, but microscopes reveal they have features called nanopillars. They are so small that even a human hair is thicker.

Nanopillars give cicada wings a rough surface that makes them both water repellant and antibacterial. Alleyne and her team are hoping to make cicada-inspired surfaces that can destroy bacteria.

So far, researchers have been able to replicate nanopillars on cicada wings, including original dimensions and scale, and they’ve been able to destroy 95% of bacterial over the course of three hours. But there is still a lot of work to be done.

Alleyne and her team plan to experiment with different fabrication techniques and observe more dynamic interactions between bacteria and replicated surfaces using microfluid techniques. The microfluid projects involves using tiny channels that will allow for mixtures of material to flow across different nanopillar surfaces.

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