Bio-Inspired SYNTHESIS and PROPERTIES of Photocatalytic METAL OXIDE Nanostructures

Mineralizing biological systems demonstrate how nature can produce elegant structures at room temperature through controlled organic-mineral interactions. These organics (proteins and polysaccharides) exist as either soluble forms or as insoluble scaffolds that are often used to control size, shape and orientation of mineral.

Based on inspiration from Nature, we are using biologically-inspired scaffolds to template the nucleation and growth of inorganic materials such as TiO2. These scaffolds offer the potential to control surface energies that can dramatically influence crystal nucleation and growth behavior. In addition, these soluble ligands (modeled after specific mineral functionalities identified through the study of biological systems) that interact with minerals during homogeneous nucleation can be used to control the size, shape and phase of these particles and ultimately, their properties. In this work, we demonstrate size and phase control of metal oxide nanostructures and the resulting enhanced photocatalytic activity.