Bioinspired synthesis of new silica structuresElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Methods, EDS for specimens in Fig. 2c and Fig. 2b; additional SEM and TEM of silica. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cc/b3/b302056h/

Abstract

Silicon and oxygen are the two most abundant elements in the Earth's crust but despite the vast scientific literature on crystalline and amorphous silica, new chemistries, structures and applications continue to be discovered for compounds formed from these elements--thus we present here for the first time the formation of new amorphous silica structures that were uniquely synthesized by a bioinspired synthetic system.

Hybrid and biohybrid silicate based materials: molecular vs. block-assembling bottom–up processes

“…217 These biosilicification processes may serve as an inspiration for the development of new silica-based hybrids with a variety of desired structural and functional properties, in which structural proteins used as template have the ability to control silica precipitation, as well as its morphological and textural characteristics. 216,[218][219][220] Silica-protein interactions are driven by hydrogen bonding between silanol groups of silica and CQO and N-H groups of the polypeptides as well as by electrostatic interactions at high pH values. 221 When the blocks-assembly approach is followed using silicates of the clay minerals family, the mechanisms controlling the assembly of structural polypeptide molecules to layered silicates are mainly driven by electrostatic interactions between the clay lamellae and the protein chains, together with strong van der Waals' attraction.…”

Bio-Based Approaches to Inorganic Material Synthesis (Preprint)

“…Poly(L-lysine) has been known to precipitate silica for a number of years [7][8][9]. However, more recently it has been found that different lengths of poly(Llysine) result in different shapes of silica (Figure 1).…”

Mussel adhesive protein inspired coatings: a versatile method to fabricate silica films on various surfaces

“…In contrast, sponges and diatoms synthesise and fabricate precisely controlled and hierarchically order nano-structured silica materials from soluble silicon species under ambient conditions using special classes of proteins that include silicatein [17][18][19][20] and siliaffins. 21,22 To mimic biosilicification reaction in vitro, many synthetic polypeptides, [23][24][25][26][27][28] polyamines [29][30][31][32][33] and diblock polymers [34][35][36] have been synthesized and used to make silica particles in solution.…”