Freezing as a path to build complex composites.
Materials that are strong, ultralightweight, and tough are in demand for a range of applications, requiring architectures and components carefully designed from the micrometer down to the nanometer scale. Nacre, a structure found in many molluscan shells, and bone are frequently used as examples for how nature achieves this through hybrid organic-inorganic composites. Unfortunately, it has proven extremely difficult to transcribe nacre-like clever designs into synthetic materials, partly because their intricate structures need to be replicated at several length scales. We demonstrate how the physics of ice formation can be used to develop sophisticated porous and layered-hybrid materials, including artificial bone, ceramic-metal composites, and porous scaffolds for osseous tissue regeneration with strengths up to four times higher than those of materials currently used for implantation.
Deville
Sylvain
S
Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. sdeville@lbl.gov
Saiz
Eduardo
E
Nalla
Ravi K
RK
Tomsia
Antoni P
AP
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D018786:Bone Substitutes; D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry; D002516:Ceramics; D019245:Compressive Strength; D017886:Durapatite / Q000737:chemistry; D005612:Freeze Drying; D005615:Freezing; D007053:Ice; D008670:Metals; D010316:Particle Size; D011108:Polymers; D016062:Porosity
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D018786:Bone Substitutes; D007053:Ice; D008670:Metals; D011108:Polymers; D017886:Durapatite; D002119:Calcium Carbonate