Micro-Flowers: Light Wave Technique Paves Way For Biotechnology

A team of researchers have developed artificial micro-flowers, which can be assembled in water and they even bloom similarly to natural flowers. This new development is a step forward to creating advanced electronics for future generations, according to a study.

"This is the first time flower-shaped microforms have been developed in a water solution, opening an exciting new pathway for further research," said Dr. Sheshanath Boshanale, lead investigator of the study, from RMIT University's Indian Institute of Chemical Technology Research Centre.

The researchers claimed that flower-shaped structures are the focus of their study, since the unique surfaces have a wide variety of application fields such as biotechnology, organic electronics, biomedicine, nanotechnology and even chemosensors, according to a news release. For the first time, the team of researchers have developed microstructures, created through a water-based process. The flower-shaped structures were still in their infancy stage, according to the researchers.

"The artificial blooms developed by our team are just 10 microns wide, about 10 could fit along the width of a strand of human hair," Boshanale said.

In order for these flower-like structures to form, the researchers combined two organic compounds - NDI-bearing phosphonic acid and melamine - in water, which eventually evaporated. In about three to four hours, the artificial micro-flowers were fully developed. The process was almost identical to a natural flower's blooming process.

"While tiny, they have potential to make a big impact by enabling researchers to easily and reliably build microflowers and use them to break frontiers in a range of scientific fields," Boshanale said.

The findings of this study were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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