PubMed · 16562552
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Sylvie Warnet. 2006. [Creating an artificial contrast to explore a cavity].. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16562552/
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The syntheses of inorganic materials by biological systems is characterized by processes that occur close to ambient temperatures, pressures, and neutral pH, as is exemplified by biosilicification and biomineralization processes in nature. Conversely, laboratory-based syntheses of oxide materials often require extremes of temperature and pressure. We have shown here the extracellular, room-temperature biosynthesis of 4-5 nm ternary oxide nanoparticles such as barium titanate (BT) using a fungus-mediated approach. The tetragonality as well as a lowered Curie transition temperature in sub-10 nm particles was established, and the ferroelectricity in these particles was shown using Kelvin probe microscopy.
Silicatein, an enzymatic biocatalyst from the marine sponge Tethya aurantia, is demonstrated to catalyze and template the hydrolysis/condensation of the molecular precursor BaTiF6 at low temperature to form nanocrystalline BaTiOF4, an orthorhombic oxofluorotitanate. The kinetics of hydrolysis and growth were studied in-situ via pH profiling and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) techniques. The composition and structure of the resulting BaTiOF4 microstructures on the silicatein surface were characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction. The silicatein-mediated hydrolysis/condensation of BaTiF6 generates nanocrystalline BaTiOF4 (a high-temperature intermediate to BaTiO3) at 16 degrees C without any added acid or base, and the growth is templated along the protein filaments into floret microstructures. The unique combination of silicatein and the single-source molecular precursor has allowed a multimetallic perovskite-like material to be biocatalytically synthesized, in vitro, for the first time.