Light-controlled morphological development of self-organizing bioinspired nanocomposites.

ABSTRACT: Nature's intricate biominerals inspire fundamental questions on self-organization and guide innovations towards functional materials. While advances in synthetic self-organization have enabled many levels of control, generating complex shapes remains difficult. Specifically, controlling morphologies during formation at the single micro/nanostructure level is the key challenge. Here, we steer the self-organization of barium carbonate nanocrystals and amorphous silica into complex nanocomposite morphologies by photogeneration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) under ultraviolet (UV) light. Using modulations in the UV light intensity, we select the growth mode of the self-organization process inwards or outwards to form helical and coral-like morphologies respectively. The spatiotemporal cont

SUBMITTER: Bistervels MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10832358 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature