---
title: "These Tiny, Solar-Powered Wings Flap Faster Than a Butterfly’s"
description: "A team of researchers have created tiny solar powered wings that can flap faster than butterfly wings and only need sunlight as a power source."
date: "2020-02-19"
modified: "2020-02-19"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tiny-solar-powered-wings-faster-buttefly"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Renewable Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Solar Power"
tags:
  - "bioinspired robots"
  - "butterfly"
  - "the digest"
---

# These Tiny, Solar-Powered Wings Flap Faster Than a Butterfly’s

![A team of researchers have created tiny solar powered wings that can flap faster than butterfly wings and only need sunlight as a power source.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tiny-solar-powered-wings-faster-buttefly.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Yuan et al.\</em\>*

## Flappy Bot

A team of Chinese researchers has created [tiny wings](<https://phys.org/news/2020-02-wings-powered-sun.html>) that are capable of flapping faster than butterfly wings — and which need only sunlight as a power source. According to the researchers, the design could allow robots to fly without the need for batteries or could even be used to harvest solar energy.

The "flexible bio-butterfly wing" is essentially a thin coated polymer sheet with a special metallic film that reacts to changes in temperature. When the Sun shines down on the strip, the wing flexes as the metallic film expands more than the polymer layer.

## Sunflight

Once curled, the metallic layer gets shaded below, causing the temperature to drop and the wing to unfold. This two-step process then cycles at up to 4.5 times a second, according to [a paper](<https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.9b20250>) the team published in the journal *ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces*.

To demonstrate the novel device, the team built an adorable whirligig and a tiny sailboat that are both entirely powered by sunlight. They even managed to build a device that turned simulated sunlight into an electrical current.

**READ MORE:** ['Flapping wings' powered by the Sun](<https://phys.org/news/2020-02-wings-powered-sun.html>) \[American Chemical Society\]

**More on flapping robots:** *[These Tiny “Fruit Fly Bots” Could Explore Distant Planets](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tiny-robots-explore-distant-planets>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)