From Living Light to Living Materials

Sophie Cassaignon (1) , Robin de Maleprade (1) , Nadine Nassif (1) , Jacques Livage (1)

1 LCMCP - Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris

Diatom cells are enclosed within porous silica walls that exhibit a wide variety of forms. Some of them exhibit photonic crystals properties arising from a periodic distribution of pores along these walls. Diatoms then play with solar light to protect the cell and improve its photosynthetic properties. These micro-algae also suggest that life is possible inside a glass box leading to the bio-inspired synthesis of living materials via the so-called sol-gel process.

Mots clés: bio-encapsulation; diatoms; photonic crystal; silica

Domaines: Matériaux

Sophie Cassaignon, Robin de Maleprade, Nadine Nassif, Jacques Livage. From Living Light to Living Materials. Materials Today: Proceedings, 2014, 1, supplément, pp.209 - 215. ⟨10.1016/j.matpr.2014.09.024⟩. ⟨hal-01104159⟩