BACKGROUND The diatom cell wall, called the frustule, is predominantly made out of silica, in many cases with highly ordered nano- and micro-scale features. Frustules are built intracellularly inside a special compartment, the silica deposition vesicle, or SDV. Molecules such as proteins (silaffins and silacidins) and long chain polyamines have been isolated from the silica and shown to be invo...

Inspired by the self-cleaning lotus leaf and silver ragwort leaf, here we demonstrate the fabrication of biomimetic superhydrophobic fibrous mats via electrospinning polystyrene (PS) solution in the presence of silica nanoparticles. The resultant electrospun fiber surfaces exhibited a fascinating structure with the combination of nano-protrusions and numerous grooves due to the rapid phase sepa...

Ordered mesoporous Cd(x)Zn(1-x)S ternary compound semiconductors were prepared with a simple nano-casting method using 3-D cubic Ia3d meso-structured silica, KIT-6, as a hard-template with the easily available precursors of 3CdSO4 x 8H2O and ZnSO4 x 7H2O. Thermal reduction of impregnated precursors resulted in the crystalline networks within the mesopore of the silica template, then the ordered...

Structural preservation of complex biological systems from the subcellular to whole organism level in robust forms, enabling dissection and imaging while preserving 3D context, represents an enduring grand challenge in biology. Here we report a simple immersion method for structurally preserving intact organisms via conformal stabilization within silica. This self-limiting process, which we ref...

Multifunctional silica nano-vehicles (SiO2@indol-IL) and magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@indol-IL) were constructed through the Schiff bases condensation of indole-3-carboxaldehyde and 4-acetyl-N-allyl pyridinium chloride (ILs) with the amine groups of silica and magnetic nanoparticles. SiO2@indol-IL can inhibit the proliferation of HepG-2 cells in 48 h. Fe3O4@indol-IL can mimic the function of c...

Inorganic precipitation reactions are known to self-organize a variety of macroscopic structures, including hollow tubes. We discuss recent advances in this field with an emphasis on experiments similar to 'silica gardens'. These reactions involve metal salts and sodium silicate solution. Reactions triggered from reagent-loaded microbeads can produce tubes with inner radii of down to 3 μm. Dist...

Abstract At present, materials obtained from nature are adopted with high priority due to exploitation of natural resources ofthe materials. This work is focused on the use fibre nano-silica as reinforcement in epoxy resin a matrix. The polymer composites were developed by mixing an appropriate amount nano SiO 2 bamboo fibres. After composite fabrication, specimens standard size prepared, and t...

The octaanion, [OSiO1.5]88− (OA) is a low cost, discrete nano silica particle that can be made directly from high surface area, amorphous silica reacted with Me4NOH in water alcohol mixtures. It would be ideal if Me4NOH could be formed in situ from, for example, Me4NCl and NaOH, as long known in the literature. This process would reduce costs and enable recycling of Me4NCl produced in the funct...