Hybrid biomimetic materials from silica/carbonate biomorphs
The formation of a polymer protection layer around fragile mineral architectures ensures that structures stay intact even after treatments that would normally destroy them going along with a total loss of textural information. Here we present a strategy to preserve the shape of silica-carbonate biomorphs with polymers. This method converts non-hybrid inorganic-inorganic composite materials such a silica/carbonate biomorphs into hybrid organic/carbonate composite materials similar to biominerals. ; The authors thank the European Research Council under the European Union's seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement no. 340863.