Bioinspired Morphogenesis
of Highly Intricate and
Symmetric Silica Nanostructures
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Abstract
Biosilification is of interest due to its capability
to produce
a highly intricate structure under environmentally friendly conditions.
Despite the considerable effort that has been devoted toward biomimetic
silification, the synthesis of highly complex silica structures, as
found in the structures of diatom cell walls, is still in its infancy.
Here, we report the bioinspired fabrication of well-organized and
symmetric silica nanostructured networks, involving phase separation
and silicic acid polymerization processes, in analogy to the morphogenesis
of diatom cell walls. Our approach exploits self-assembled silica
spheres as a self-source of the silicic acids as well as scaffolds
that, interplayed with droplets of ammonium hexafluorosilicate, direct
the site-specific silification. Moreover, we have achieved multiple
morphological evolutions with subtle changes in the process, which
demonstrates exquisite levels of control over silica morphogenesis