(9) Construction of Organic/Inorganic Fusion Materials through Approaches Inspired by Biomineralization

Biominerals such as bone, tooth, exoskeleton of crustacean and a nacre of seashell produced in living organisms are organic/inorganic hybrids with highly and hierarchically ordered structures. In the formation process of biomineral, that is biomineralization, fusion of organic and inorganic substances at the molecular level has been achieved by adhesion between fibers as a crystallization matrix and calcium carbonate in the presence of acidic macromolecules. Because such hierarchical structures provide high functionalities to organic/inorganic hybrids, the structures of biominerals and their formation mechanism give us ideas of material designs for the development of highly functional organic/inorganic fusion materials under mild conditions. Nacre of seashell is a fascinating example for the development of thin-film fusion materials with high functionalities through mild-condition processes. In this review, we demonstrate the formation of organic/ inorganic thin-film hybrids towards the development of environmentally-friendly and high-functional materials. The organic/inorganic thin-film hybrids are prepared through approaches inspired by biomineralization using soluble polymer additives and insoluble polymer matrices. We focus on the effects of organic macromolecules on morphologies and structures of organic/inorganic hybrid thin films.