ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the butterfly-inspired nanotechnology as a good example to demonstrate how the hierarchical architecture of a butterfly wing affects the photonic function at nanoscale, how natural nanostructures inspire the design and fabrication of biomimetic photonic structures, and what the current and future applications of the butterfly wing–inspired nanotechnology. Most of the biomimetic hierarchical structures use natural butterfly wings as a template and are fabricated by various deposition and synthesis methods, such as chemical vapor deposition, solution casting, atomic layer deposition, soaking process, conformal-evaporated-film-by-rotation, sol-gel process, hydrothermal process, ultrasonication, and molding lithography. Although the silica wing is harder and more brittle than the natural butterfly wing, a pair of tweezers can more easily handle the silica wing. Laser direct-write in combination with particle-assisted laser nanofabrication, which can selectively and locally pattern, has demonstrated the potential to fabricate photonic crystal structures mimicking the natural butterfly wing scale.
