Université de Fribourg

Polymerization‐induced wrinkled surfaces with controlled topography as slippery surfaces for colorado potato beetles

Bergmann, Johannes B. ; Moatsou, Dafni ; Surapaneni, Venkata A. ; Thielen, Marc ; Speck, Thomas ; Wilts, Bodo D. ; Steiner, Ullrich

In: Advanced Materials Interfaces, 2020, p. 2000129

Controlling the interaction of insect populations with their host plants has recently received renewed attention in the light of pest control. One way to modify the interaction of insects with their host plants in a non‐chemical way is through influence of their de/attachment. Insect detachment has been observed for textured biological and structured artificial surfaces with morphologies ...

Université de Fribourg

Polydopamine nanoparticle doped nanofluid for solar thermal energy collector efficiency increase

Hauser, Daniel ; Steinmetz, Lukas ; Balog, Sandor ; Taladriz‐Blanco, Patricia ; Septiadi, Dedy ; Wilts, Bodo D. ; Petri‐Fink, Alke ; Rothen‐Rutishauser, Barbara

In: Advanced Sustainable Systems, 2020, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 1900101

Polydopamine can form black nanoparticles and has recently been gaining attention due to its extraordinary heating properties upon excitation with light. Herein, polydopamine hybrid nanoparticles are synthesized in different sizes and subsequently added to a solar fluid to analyze heating ability. The solar fluids with the differently sized hybrid polydopamine particles are compared to a...

Université de Fribourg

A literal elytral rainbow: tunable structural colors using single diamond biophotonic crystals in Pachyrrhynchus congestus weevils

Wilts, Bodo D. ; Saranathan, Vinodkumar

In: Small, 2018, vol. 14, no. 46, p. 1802328

The brilliant colors of many insects arise from the interference of incident light with complex nanostructured biomaterials that are present in their cuticle. Here, the rainbow‐colored spots on the elytra of a snout weevil, Pachyrrhynchus congestus pavonius (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), are investigated using synchrotron small‐angle X‐ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy,...