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Nanoengineering in Echinoderms: The Emergence of Morphology from Nanobricks
Author(s) -
Oaki Yuya,
Imai Hiroaki
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.200500246
Subject(s) - nanoengineering , nanotechnology , nanocrystal , materials science , morphology (biology) , sponge , geology , paleontology
The sponge skeleton of the spine of sea urchins is found to be generated from nanocrystals 20–50 nm in size (main image). The nanocrystals make up the oriented architectures of various living species (see insets) in association with biopolymers; together they are in the form of inorganic–organic nanocomposites. This nanoengineering strategy offers the promise of the construction of unique macroscopic morphologies.