Extreme biomimetic approach for synthesis of nanocrystalline chitin-(Ti,Zr)O2 multiphase composites

What is it about?

This work presents an extreme biomimetics route for the modification of the surface of fibre-based scaffolds of poriferan origin by the creation of novel nanostructured multiphase biocomposites. A novel nanocrystalline chitin-(Ti,Zr)O2 composite has been achieved under hydrothermal conditions. We showed that this bioorganic scaffold facilitates selective crystallization of TiO2 over the monoclinic zirconium dioxide and that a control of the crystal morphology through the chitin templates is also possible. Photoluminescence and photocatalytic performance have been investigated. These data confirm the high potential of the extreme biomimetics approach for developing a new generation of multiphase biopolymer-based nanostructured materials.

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