Moth eyes as a remedy for sun glare on smartphones

A familiar situation: on a summer sunny day, you take out your smartphone on the street and immediately turn into a mole, who is trying to make out what is written on the screen, and randomly press the desired symbols with your finger. This is due to sunlight that reflects off the screen, creating glare. But now, it seems, this problem can be forgotten. And the one whom you least suspect of any utility will help people with this: ordinary moth.

Cat's eye the other way around

The fact is that the moth has a unique eye structure. On the outer surface of the cornea of her eye are antireflection nanostructures. They kindly let sunlight into the eye (allowing the moth to see), but prevent it from reflecting. This saves the moth from predators. It turns out such "cat's eyes on the contrary" - no light.

Such an unusual effect interested scientists from the National University of Taiwan. Apparently, too, tired of looking for a shadow to read the message on a sunny day, they decided to use natural know-how to perfect human inventions.

The researchers first created the mold using tiny “nanospheres” that they placed on a glass surface, assembling them in a tightly packed layer. Specialists then used the mold as a template to transfer this pattern onto a protective film.

No sun and dust

The new anti-reflective film for electronic devices, the development of which researchers are engaged, took a lot from its ancestor - the eyes of a moth. Scientists are sure that it can improve the readability of the screen 10 times under a clear sky, and in direct sunlight - up to five times).

In addition, the film, the creation of which was inspired by nature itself, is inexpensive to manufacture and will have additional advantages: it is resistant to scratches and dirt. Researchers report that users will finally be able to get rid of dust, fingerprints and dirt, which are usually collected on conventional touch screens.

Also, the new film will save smartphones and laptops from the need to constantly automatically switch between energy saving and enhanced brightness, depending on the change in lighting. This will increase the battery life.