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Black Silicon Slices and Dices Bacteria

Posted by samzenpus on from the cut-them-up dept.

Zothecula writes "Originally discovered by accident in the 1980s, black silicon is silicon with a surface that has been modified to feature nanoscale spike structures which give the material very low reflectivity. Researchers have now found that these spikes can also destroy a wide range of bacteria, potentially paving the way for a new generation of antibacterial surfaces."

3 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. They found similar structure on insects' wings by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    From the TFA:

    " ... the wings of the cicada Psaltoda claripennis could shred certain types of rod-shaped bacteria ... "
     
    " ... the wings of the Diplacodes bipunctata or Wandering Percher dragonfly were even more deadly, killing both rod-shaped and spherical bacteria ...     "

    I am very curious.

    Since the structures on the WINGS of the insects, do they have some yet-to-be-discovered aero-dynamic functionality, apart from their ability to shred bacteria ?

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:They found similar structure on insects' wings by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I wish the best of luck to whoever gets to model the behavior of a mixed (mostly) nonpolar gas interacting with a dense, more or less randomly packed, array of 240nm spikes, composed of some sort of complex biological polymer arrangement, at the boundary of the (already complex enough) interaction between an insect wing and the surrounding fluid...

      (If it turns out that the bugs are capable of using cell membrane potentials to selectively induce dielectric polarization of the air passing over selected parts of the wing surface, or something else verging on plain cheating, I say we back away slowly and let them take over.)

  2. Re: a concern by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In short: no.

    Essentially the problem with asbestos was the very high aspect ratio and (obviously) bio-incompatibility.

    Black Silicon spikes don't have anywhere near this kind of aspect ratio and are comparatively biocompatible.

    Source: doing a silicon surface science nanotechnology masters.