Caracterización de micro y nanoestructuras quitínicas de alas de mariposas del bosque tropical de Ecuador y su potencial aplicación.

Abstract

The nanostructures that make up butterfly wings are complex physical arrangements whose optical, thermal and mechanical properties are of interest in the field of materials science and engineering for the development of new materials. In this work, the characterization of wing nanostructures of 12 species of butterflies from the tropical forest of the Ecuadorian Chocó was carried out, which have a predominant flight in a defined vertical stratum of the forest (canopy, middle stratum and understory) with specific characteristics of light and temperature. For the characterization, microscopy, spectroscopy and thermogravimetry tests were used to identify particularities of the nanostructures of the species according to the forest stratum where they live. The results indicate that the chemical composition of the wings is similar for all species, however, there are significant differences in the predominant nanostructures and their response to the electromagnetic spectrum in the UV, visible and NIR ranges. The analyzed species, belonging to the Nymphalidae family, show higher light absorbance in the UV range followed by the NIR and the visible range, in addition, butterflies with predominant flight in the understory stratum show higher absorbance in the visible than those in the canopy and middle stratum, which also show a general nanostructural arrangement of the wings with fewer empty spaces and greater prominence of ridges and lamellae. This characterization is a first step to analyze opportunities for the development of biomimetic technologies whose performance could have more efficient and innovative results in relation to the electromagnetic spectrum ranges analyzed.