A Comparative Study of Crystallography and Defect Structure of Corneal Nipple Array in Daphnis nerii Moth and Papilio polytes Butterfly Eye

Abstract

Moth and butterfly ommatidial nanostructures have been extensively studied for their anti-reflective properties. Especially, from the point of view of sub-wavelength anti-reflection phenomena, the moth eye structures are the archetype example. Here, a comparative analysis of corneal nipples in moth eye (both Male and Female) and butterfly eye (both Male and Female) is given. The surface of moth(Male and Female) and butterfly(Male and Female) eye is defined with regularly arranged hexagonal facets filled with corneal nipples. A detailed analysis using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy images show the intricate hexagonal arrangement of corneal nipples within the individual hexagonal facet. Individual nipples in moth are circular with an average diameter of about 140/165 nm (Male/Female) and average internipple separation of 165 nm. The moth eye show the ordered arrangement of the corneal nipples and the butterfly eye (Male/Female) show an even more complex arrangement of the nipples. Structurally, the corneal nipples in both male and female butterflies are not circular but are polygons with 5, 6, and 7 sides. The average center-to-center separation in the butterfly(Male/Female) is about 260 nm/204 nm, respectively. We find that these corneal nipples are organized into much more dense hexagonal packing with the internipple (edge-to-edge) separation ranging from 20 to 25 nm. Each hexagonal facet is divided into multiple grains separated by boundaries spanning one or two crystallographic defects. These defects are seen in both moth and butterfly. These are typical 5-coordinated and 7-coordinated defect sites typical for a solid-state material with the hexagonal atomic arrangement. Even though the isolated defects are a rarity, interwoven (7-5) defects form a grain boundary between perfectly ordered grains. These defects introduce a low-angle dislocation, and a detailed analysis of the defects is done. The butterfly eye (Male/Female) is defined with extremely high-density corneal nipple with no apparent grains. Each corneal nipple is a polygon with “ n ” sides ( n = 5, 6, and 7). While the 5- and 7-coordinated defects exist, they do not initiate a grain rotation as seen in the moth eyes. To find out the similarity and the difference in the reflectivity of these nanostructured surfaces, we used the effective medium theory and calculated the reflectivity in moth and butterfly eyes. From this simple analysis, we find that females have better anti-reflective properties compared to the males in both moth and butterfly.