Templated deposition of porous fullerene-C 60 in the interior of siliceous sponge spicules as a biogenic microvessel
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Pance Naumov International Center for Young Scientists, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan; and Department of Material and Life Science, Osaka University, Graduate School of Engineering, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
Yoshihisa Tanaka National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan (Received 1 December 2011; accepted 16 July 2012)
The unique set of mechanical properties found in rigid biological tissues, which combine high strength and stiffness with superior toughness, offer inspiration for the design of advanced functional structural materials with outstanding performance. This paper reports on the first utilization of one such biogenic material—siliceous sponge spicules, the skeletal elements of sponges (Poriphera)—as a unique naturally nanostructured template for vacuum deposition, while also reporting on the effects of the required chemical and thermal treatments for template preparation on the material’s microstructure and mechanical properties. The confined space within the central channel of spicules from the sponge Euplectella acts simultaneously as a nanotemplate and as a biogenic, optically transparent, glassy microchamber for the preparation of micrometer-sized clusters of fullerene-C60 through vacuum deposition onto the nanostructured surface. This biological material allows an unprecedented and unique microporous morphology of C60 particles to be obtained.
I. INTRODUCTION
Due to their strictly function-oriented structures, and the unique combination of maximum performance with minimum strain on the structure, natural materials such as mammalian bones, mollusc shells, and crustacean exoskeletons can often be superior to their artificial counterparts1,2 and can be a very useful model for the design of advanced synthetic functional materials. The resulting bioinspired materials can be further optimized, and their properties and performance can be enhanced when fabricated under strictly controlled conditions to acquire unique target properties. A very recent example of the colossal potential borne by biogenic structural elements can be found in the innovation of artificial photonic crystals and light waveguides, which is a revolutionary bioinspired technology that is already being applied in the fields of optics and optoelectronics.3 Using fullerene-C60 as example, the potential of the interior of siliceous sponge spicules—natural animal skeletal elements with outstanding hierarchy in their structural organization4–7 and notable optical properties8,9—as a)
Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2012.300 J. Mater. Res., Vol. 27, No. 22, Nov 28, 2012
templates for the deposition of materials, or for bringing about (photo)chemical reactions, is demonstrated. Using the nanostructured surface of the spicule silica as a natural substrate, an ensemble of C60 particles was produced through templated vapor deposition in the central spicule channel. The combination of high rigidity, limited space, and s
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