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Biomimetics: Learning from diamonds

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Abstract

There is increasing observational evidence for an implication of the order of interfacial water layers in biology, for instance in processes of cellular recognition and during first contact events, where cells decide to survive or enter apoptosis. Experimental methods that allow access to the order of interfacial water layers are thus crucial in biomedical engineering. In this study, we show that interfacial water structures can be nondestructively analyzed on the nanocrystalline diamond. Results open the gate to a new chapter in the design of biomaterials inspired by biomimetic principles.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg Bionics Network for financial support. D.Z. and A.P.S. thank Horst-Dieter Försterling, Dominik Marx, and Mark Tuckerman for fruitful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Micro and Nanomaterials, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Andrei P. Sommer, Dan Zhu & Hans-Joerg Fecht

  2. Central Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ulm, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Ralf-Peter Franke

  3. Institute for Nanotechnology, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, 76021, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Hans-Joerg Fecht

Authors
  1. Andrei P. Sommer
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  2. Dan Zhu
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  3. Ralf-Peter Franke
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  4. Hans-Joerg Fecht
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Correspondence to Andrei P. Sommer.

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Sommer, A.P., Zhu, D., Franke, RP. et al. Biomimetics: Learning from diamonds. Journal of Materials Research 23, 3148–3152 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2008.0382

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2008.0382

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