Biological materials are a rewarding area of modern materials science, yielding both evolutionary insights and inspiration for biomimetic research. In particular, biocomposite structures are valuable sources of novel structures with unusual chemical properties, and they are very informative for the mechanisms of biomineralization. Here we describe a unique biocomposite of amorphous silica, crystalline aragonite, and chitin from species of the order Verongida, a group of marine sponges. The structures have been analyzed with a diverse suite of techniques, revealing a chitinous template for siliceous overgrowth containing aragonite-based crystal aggregates. Sponge chitin is an example of a specific template where two minerals in amorphous and crystalline forms are formed together with an organic molecule.
Aluminum sheets were furnished with a water‐repellent composite layer consisting of microroughened alumina, chitosan (CHS), and poly[octadecene‐alt‐(maleic anhydride)] (POMA). CHS was electrochemically deposited or spin‐coated. In a subsequent reaction step, POMA was covalently bonded onto the immobilized CHS layer. The produced composite layers showed superhydrophobic properties, which are indicated by the water contact angles >150° and negligible hysteresis. Cross‐linking reactions of the CHS layer were able to enhance the layer stability. The superhydrophobic surface properties were also maintained after abrasion of the protruding polymer‐coated alumina peaks. This is due to a CHS/POMA reservoir incorporated in the microroughened alumina surface region.magnified image
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