Numerical simulation of the pattern formation of the springtail cuticle nanostructures

Abstract

Springtails (Collembola) are known to exhibit complex hierarchical nanostructures of their exoskeleton surface that repels water and other fluids with remarkable efficiency. These nanostructures were previously widely studied due to their structure, chemistry and fluid-repelling properties. These ultrastructural and chemical studies revealed the involvement of different components in different parts of the nanopattern, but the overall process of self-assembly into the complex rather regular structures observed remains unclear. Here, we model this process from a theoretical point of view partially using solutions related to the so-called Tammes problem. By using densities of three different reacting substances, we obtained a typical morphology that is highly similar to the ones observed on the cuticle of some springtail species. These results are important not only for our understanding of the formation of hierarchical nanoscale structures in nature, but also for the fabrication of novel surface coatings.