Biologically inspired far-from-equilibrium materials
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troduction Complex multifunctionality of materials is seldom achieved with monolithic single crystals. Many of the multifunctional materials found in nature are heterogeneous mixtures of widely disparate components, organized spatially from the nanometer to the micrometer scale and above, and temporally across vastly different time scales.1,2 A central feature of these systems is that they are all far from equilibrium during their functioning, and can yield (useful, designed) byproducts that are intricately structured and stable (though structurally frozen) approaching equilibrium. For achieving control over spatial organization, one of the most powerful biosynthetic tools is biomineralization, a stable useful (designed) byproduct of biological activity. Collectively, biomineralization represents a class of synthetic processes in which nucleation, growth, and final morphologies of an ordering component, often inorganic, are directed, constrained, and even frustrated by an intervening “template,” typically an organized microphase of organic biomolecules. Some well-known examples are bone, cartilage, and shells.3 Here, nanoscale (
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