The Namib Desert beetle that is found in the deserts of the southwestern Africa has stimulated a scientific advancement towards preventing the formation of frost on the surfaces of airplanes, coils and windshields. The areas in which these beetles live have scarcity of water. A new technique, which has been found by a team of scientists at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech), is based on the amalgamation of a certain pattern superimposed on the upper side of a waterproof surface. The technique is inspired by the shell of the beetle.

“I appreciate the irony of how an insect that lives in a hot, dry desert inspired us to make a discovery about frost. The main takeaway from the Desert Beetle is we can control where dew drops grow”, said Jonathan Boreyko, a Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics Assistant Professor in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering.

The exceptional features of the beetle’s shell make it capable of collecting airborne water. Specialized bumps and the even surface of the shell work in co-ordination with each other to ensure the formation of the water droplets and finally moving to the beetle’s mouth. The team of the scientists undertook a process called photolithography, which involves imitating the distinctive patterns of the bumps that exist on the shell of the beetle to create a silicon wafer.

Water droplets are repelled by the material’s surface, while they are attracted by the chemical pattern. As a result, water droplets remain disconnected and running, thereby decelerating and even completely avoiding the growth of frost.

The technique has been successfully tried by the scientists on an approximately 1 centimeter of a surface. Further, the scientists speculate that the level of the experiment can be expanded to make the technique applicable on larger commercial objects. The technique can also help in reducing the huge costs that are involved in keeping things dry, according to a co-author of the study, C. Patrick Collier.