Mapping the local dielectric constant of a biological nanostructured system

• Wescley Walison Valeriano,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro Andrade,
• Juan Pablo Vasco,
• Angelo Malachias,
• Bernardo Ruegger Almeida Neves,
• Paulo Sergio Soares Guimarães and
• Wagner Nunes Rodrigues

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 139–150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.11

• work is to determine the varying dielectric constant of a biological nanostructured system via electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) and to show how this method is useful to study natural photonic crystals. We mapped the dielectric constant of the cross section of the posterior wing of the damselfly

• ; electrostatic force microscopy (EFM); natural photonic crystals; relative permittivity; structural colors; Introduction The dielectric constant, or relative permittivity, is a fundamental physical property that is crucial for describing various biological, chemical, or physical phenomena. It is a material

• such as the full understanding of proteins [1][2] or in the development of solar cells [3]. Natural photonic crystals are exciting nanostructured systems in which the dielectric properties play a fundamental role [4]. Many of them are biological systems where the richness of colors, produced by