Fabrication and characterization of artificial miniaturized insect compound eyes for imaging

Abstract

Polystyrene (PS) microspheres are synthesized by dispersion polymerization, and a close-packed two-dimensional (2D) array of the PS microspheres is formed by the self-assembly method through dip drawing under magnetic stirring. This array is then used to fabricate a 2D polydimethylsiloxane concave mold by soft lithography. The mold is employed to produce convex polymethylmethacrylate-based compound eye-replicating films of different hemispherical heights by thermopressing. The optical properties of the ommatidia on these biomimetic compound eye-replicating films are investigated, and the films are used with a charge-coupled device camera to construct a biomimetic visual system. The visual distance and field of view of this system are measured. The film with the greatest hemispherical height results in the biomimetic visual system with the highest visual distance and the widest field of view. In addition, it is found that the quality of the optical images is not dependent on the hemispherical height of the biomimetic films. The ability of the biomimetic visual system to detect moving object in real time is also studied.

Photonic Crystal-Based Sensors for Detecting Alcohol Concentration

“…After being homogeneously mixed, the temperature of the reaction mixture was raised to 70˝C. A deoxygenated water solution with 0.9 mg potassium persulfate (KPS) was added, and the emulsion was mixed for 24 h. [21,22].…”

Bioinspired nanoscale hierarchical pillars for extreme superhydrophobicity and wide angular transmittance

“…Hierarchical structures are effective in realizing smart biological behavior in nature by implementing or reinforcing various surface functionalities, such as self-cleaning, antireection, antibiofouling, water harvesting, structural color, and drag reduction. 1,2 These amazing properties enabled by hierarchical structures can be observed in the lotus leaf, [3][4][5][6] pitcher plant, [7][8][9][10][11] moth eye, [12][13][14][15][16] buttery wings, 17 cicada wings, 18 Namib desert beetle's back, [19][20][21] and shark skin. [22][23][24][25] In particular, the introduction of a hierarchical nanostructure on transparent surfaces can lead to signicant performance enhancement for the developing applications such as the cover glass of photovoltaics, building and car windows and lenses of optical sensors.…”

Fabrication and Characterization of Inhomogeneous Curved Artificial Compound Eye

“…Soft lithography, which is simple, easy to operate, and can copy the ommatidia structure without deformation compared with the original biological structures, can be used repeatedly. A common method first involves fabricating a planer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) concave mold by soft lithography, casting polymethylemthacrylate (PMMA) on the model, and then producing convex compound eye-replicating films by pressing or extruding [ 15 ]. This difficulty of this method is in the curing of the PDMS in order to peel off and cut the material to achieve the desired soft mask.…”