N. Coombs et al., BLUEPRINTS FOR INORGANIC MATERIALS WITH NATURAL FORM - INORGANIC LIQUID-CRYSTALS AND A LANGUAGE OF INORGANIC SHAPE, Journal of the Chemical Society. Dalton transactions, (21), 1997, pp. 3941-3952
The form problem in biomineralization and biomimetic inorganic materia
ls chemistry is morphogenesis, the origin and control of shape. In thi
s article, an overview of an inorganic liquid crystal based paradigm f
or constructing inorganic shape is provided. The synthesis of mesoporo
us silica and mesolamellar aluminophosphate morphologies with 'natural
' form is presented. Macroscale shapes and patterns of these materials
result from the polymerization, curvature and growth of a silicate li
quid crystal mesophase or a phosphate liquid crystal microemulsion. Re
cent novel examples, such as, micelle templated oriented mesoporous si
lica films, self-assembled monolayer patterned mesoporous silica, vesi
cle templated macroporous silica and mesoporous silica molded polymer
mesofibres that exploit this paradigm of synthesizing shape are also p
resented. The time is right to explore morphogenesis in order to provi
de advanced materials where control of structure over all length scale
s determines properties and function.