Extreme biomimetic approach for developing novel chitin-GeO2 nanocomposites with photoluminescent properties

Abstract

This work presents an extreme biomimetics route for the creation of nanostructured biocomposites utilizing a chitinous template of poriferan origin. The specific thermal stability of the nanostructured chitinous template allowed for the formation under hydrothermal conditions of a novel germanium oxide− chitin composite with a defined nanoscale structure. Using a variety of analytical techniques (FTIR, Raman, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, EDS-mapping, selected area for the electron diffraction pattern (SAEDP), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)), we showed that this bioorganic scaffold induces the growth of GeO 2 nanocrystals with a narrow (150-300 nm) size distribution and predominantly hexagonal phase, demonstrating the chitin template's control over the crystal morphology. The formed GeO 2 -chitin composite showed several specific physical properties, such as a striking enhancement in photoluminescence exceeding values previously reported in GeO 2 -based biomaterials. These data demonstrate the potential of extreme biomimetics for developing new-generation nanostructured materials.

Electronic structure and optical properties of amorphous GeO2 in comparison to amorphous SiO2

“…The experimental data for a-SiO2 is from Mozzi and Warren which agrees well with our simulated data for the averaged Si-O-Si bridging angle which may be a little lower than from later measurements. The simulated a-GeO 2 model has a density is 3.351 g/cm 3 which is close to the experimental value of 3.69 ± 0.02 g/cm 3 [23]. The calculated pair distribution function (PDF) g(r) for this model is shown in Fig.…”

“…A more recent account is given by Dianov and Mashinsky [2] and the references cited therein. Recently, its utilization as a photoluminescent biomimetic composite glass has been demonstrated [3]. Germania glass exhibits a lower glass transition temperature T g (~790 K) than SiO 2 based glasses [4].…”

Gender Influences Differentiation of Chitin Among Body Parts

“…In some of the earlier studies chitin isolated from different organisms showed nanofibrous and porous surface morphologies (Zhang et al., ; Yen and Mau, ,b). Some other reports revealed only nanofibrous surface structure for chitin isolates from different organisms (Ifuku et al., ; Ifuku et al., ; Wysokowski et al., ; Mushi et al., ). Recently several studies on chitin surface morphology reported the porous and fibrous surface organization (Paulino et al., ; Yen et al., ; Wysokowski et al., ).…”

Novel nanostructured hematite–spongin composite developed using an extreme biomimetic approach

“…The pellets for electrochemical measurements consisted of 85% of the a- The mass of the electrodes was in the range of 7 to 9 mg and a geometric surface area of one electrode was 0.8 cm 2 . As an electrolyte for electrochemical measurements 6 mol l À1 KOH was used.…”