Biological inorganic crystals have a hierarchical structure that is different from geological minerals and artificial crystalline materials. Most biominerals are composed of nanometric oriented components, which are regarded as a mesocrystal. These specific architectures are generally produced through molecular controlled mineralization in aqueous solution systems. The biomineralization processes provide considerable inspirations in the fields of materials chemistry and crystal engineering. Recently, a wide variety of mesocrystals have been artificially produced by bioinspired techniques. In this presentation, the bioinspired processes for the mesocrystal formation are classified into two categories: branching in growth modulated with molecular species and self-assembly of nanoscale units via oriented attachment. The mineralization in a gel matrix is a typical example of the branching growth induced under a diffusion-limited condition. The particular interaction of molecular species and viscous media miniaturizes the unit size of growth. The mesostructures consisting of bridged nanocrystals are finally produced by the branching growth. The oriented attachment is obviously achieved by using rectangle nanoparticles as a structural unit. Another type of mesocrystals consisting of isolated units is obtained by self-assembly of the polyhedral particles covered with organic molecules. The homogeneity of the size and shape is important for construction of large-sized 3D architectures. The similarity and the difference between the branching growth and the oriented attachment are discussed for understanding and application of bioinspired mineralization.

• Legal notice:
  

  Copyright (c) Pielaszek Research, all rights reserved.
  The above materials, including auxiliary resources, are subject to Publisher's copyright and the Author(s) intellectual rights. Without limiting Author(s) rights under respective Copyright Transfer Agreement, no part of the above documents may be reproduced without the express written permission of Pielaszek Research, the Publisher. Express permission from the Author(s) is required to use the above materials for academic purposes, such as lectures or scientific presentations.
  In every case, proper references including Author(s) name(s) and URL of this webpage: https://science24.com/paper/29563 must be provided.