Nature meets engineering: IPT at the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften 2025

What do butterfly wings, lotus leaves, and pitcher plants have in common? Their surfaces are masterpieces of natural design — and this year’s Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften gave visitors at the Institute of Interfaces and Particle Technology the chance to explore how researchers study and replicate these effects in the lab.

Throughout the evening, hundreds of curious guests of all ages stepped into the world of structural color and bioinspired materials. Researchers from the IPT showcased how nature’s clever tricks can lead to new technologies — from brilliant, pigment-free colors to smart surfaces that repel water or control liquid flow.

Colors without pigments

One of the highlights of the evening was the structural color station, where visitors learned that the vivid hues on butterfly wings or peacock feathers do not come from dyes or pigments, but from microscopic structures that interact with light. Using demonstrations and microscope images, the IPT team showed how similar effects can be reproduced in the lab by arranging nanoparticles in highly ordered layers.

A presentation introduced the audience to the inverse design of nanoparticles for optical applications. Here, visitors discovered how advanced computational tools and AI-driven approaches can predict which particle structures will produce a desired color or optical property — a fascinating example of how physics, data science, and creativity meet in materials research.

Inspired by lotus leaves and pitcher plants

Equally popular was the new hands-on experiment on bioinspired surfaces, developed especially for this year’s event. Inspired by the self-cleaning lotus leaf and the slippery inner surface of pitcher plants, the IPT team invited visitors to test coated and uncoated funnels and observe how water behaves differently on each surface.

The experiment sparked lively discussions on how such surfaces could be applied in everyday life — from water-repellent coatings and stain-resistant textiles to microfluidic devices for medical technology.

Curiosity meets creativity

As the evening went on, visitors gathered around the demonstrators, asked questions, and explored how nature’s ingenuity inspires cutting-edge research. The IPT team’s mix of live experiments, interactive demonstrations, and visual displays offered a hands-on glimpse into the creative side of particle technology.