Plane wings that do not ice up or solar cells that produce electricity even in winter– ice-free surfaces are important for numerous applications. A team of scientists led by Konrad Meister, professor at the University of Alaska Southeast and group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, has now studied an Antarctic scallop species that opposes the icing procedure with the aid of its shell surface. During an expedition in Antarctica, scuba divers drew his attention to the scallop with the effective ice defense system. “Our divers reported that they had never observed large-scale ice on the surface area of this native scallop species,” Meister states.
The international research group, including members of several MPI-P research groups along with the University of Oregon, suspects that the scallop species developed a special surface structure during advancement that safeguards it from icing. While scallops in warmer areas have disordered or smooth shell surfaces, the Antarctic species has a tiny, very regular structure.
The microscopic lense exposes small ridges that run in a radiating pattern on their shell. These ridges make sure that water freezes preferentially there. If the freezing process continues, a constant layer of ice kinds, resting only on the ridges. Due to the low adhesion in between ice and shell, the smallest underwater circulation can for that reason clean off the ice again and the scallop does not freeze.
In addition to microscopic lense studies, the research group likewise carried out icing try outs the Antarctic and with a scallop from warmer areas. It was discovered that far less force is required to remove the ice layer on the Antarctic scallop than for the other species.
” It is interesting how development has obviously given this scallop a benefit,” states Konrad Meister. “New technological applications based on the concept of bionics are imaginable from the understanding of the ice-free shell. Non-icing surface areas might be extremely fascinating for polar shipping.”
The researchers have now released their research in the scientific journal Communications Biology, a journal from the Nature portfolio.
Recommendation: “Cryofouling avoidance in the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki” by William S. Y. Wong, Lukas Hauer, Paul A. Cziko and Konrad Meister, 21 January 2022, Communications Biology.DOI: 10.1038/ s42003-022-03023-6.
Due to a routine surface structure on the mussel “Adamussium colbecki” ice abides by it just really weakly and can be quickly gotten rid of by currents. Credit: MPI-P
Special shell protects Antarctic scallop from ice build-up.
Airplane wings that do not ice up or solar cells that produce electrical energy even in winter– ice-free surfaces are very important for many applications. A team of researchers led by Konrad Meister, professor at the University of Alaska Southeast and group leader at limit Planck Institute for Polymer Research, has actually now studied an Antarctic scallop species that opposes the icing procedure with the help of its shell surface area. Due to their unique structure, thin layers of ice adhere badly and are quickly washed away by the circulation. The discovery could help in the advancement of ice-free bionic surface areas in the long term.
Antarctic waters have conditions in which items and living creatures can freeze even under water. The tiniest disturbances such as grains of sand or surface areas can cause this supercooled water to freeze– with sometimes fatal repercussions for animals that can not survive frozen.
The Antarctic scallop “Adamussium colbecki” withstands this, as chemist Konrad Meister knows. Meister is a teacher at the University of Alaska and heads a research group in Mischa Bonns department at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Mainz. Throughout an expedition in Antarctica, divers drew his attention to the scallop with the effective ice protection system. “Our divers reported that they had actually never ever observed massive ice on the surface of this native scallop types,” Meister says.
Due to the low adhesion in between ice and shell, the smallest undersea flow can therefore clean off the ice once again and the scallop does not freeze.
