Preparation of monolithic silica-chitin composite under extreme biomimetic conditions

Vasilii V Bazhenov; Marcin Wysokowski; Iaroslav Petrenko; Dawid Stawski; Philipp Sapozhnikov; René Born; Allison L Stelling; Sabine Kaiser; Teofil Jesionowski

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2015.02.012

Preparation of monolithic silica-chitin composite under extreme biomimetic conditions

Int J Biol Macromol. 2015 May:76:33-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2015.02.012. Epub 2015 Feb 19.

Authors

Vasilii V Bazhenov¹, Marcin Wysokowski², Iaroslav Petrenko³, Dawid Stawski⁴, Philipp Sapozhnikov⁵, René Born⁶, Allison L Stelling⁷, Sabine Kaiser³, Teofil Jesionowski²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Experimental Physics, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany. Electronic address: vasily.bazhenov@gmail.com.
² Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology, Poznan University of Technology, PL-60965 Poznan, Poland.
³ Institute of Experimental Physics, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany.
⁴ Department of Material Commodity Sciences and Textile Metrology, Lodz University of Technology, PL-90924 Łódź, Poland.
⁵ P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Science, 117997 Moscow, Russia.
⁶ R&D Chemistry, EKF Diagnostics, D-39179 Barleben, Germany.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, 90300 Hudson Hall, Durham, NC 27708, USA.

PMID: 25701776
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2015.02.012

Abstract

Chitin is a widespread renewable biopolymer that is extensively distributed in the natural world. The high thermal stability of chitin provides an opportunity to develop novel inorganic-organic composites under hydrothermal synthesis conditions in vitro. For the first time, in this work we prepared monolithic silica-chitin composite under extreme biomimetic conditions (80°C and pH 1.5) using three dimensional chitinous matrices isolated from the marine sponge Aplysina cauliformis. The resulting material was studied using light and fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. A mechanism for the silica-chitin interaction after exposure to these hydrothermal conditions is proposed and discussed.

Keywords: Chitin; Extreme Biomimetics; Scaffolds; Silicification; Sponges.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biomimetics* / methods
Chitin / chemistry*
Nanocomposites / chemistry*
Nanocomposites / ultrastructure
Porifera / chemistry
Silicon Dioxide / chemistry*
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Thermodynamics

Substances

Chitin
Silicon Dioxide