Bionanocomposites: A New Concept of Ecological, Bioinspired, and Functional Hybrid Materials

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2007-05, Vol.19 (10), p.1309-1319
• Main Authors: Darder, M., Aranda, P., Ruiz-Hitzky, E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomimetics; Biopolymers; Clays; Hybrid materials; inorganic; Intercalation; Nanostructures; Nanostructures, inorganic
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.200602328

Bionanocomposites represent an emerging group of nanostructured hybrid materials. They are formed by the combination of natural polymers and inorganic solids and show at least one dimension on the nanometer scale. Similar to conventional nanocomposites, which involve synthetic polymers, these biohybrid materials also exhibit improved structural and functional properties of great interest for different applications. The properties inherent to the biopolymers, that is, biocompatibility and biodegradability, open new prospects for these hybrid materials with special incidence in regenerative medicine and in environmentally friendly materials (green nanocomposites). Research on bionanocomposites can be regarded as a new interdisciplinary field closely related to significant topics such as biomineralization processes, bioinspired materials, and biomimetic systems. The upcoming development of novel bionanocomposites introducing multifunctionality represents a promising research topic that takes advantage of the synergistic assembling of biopolymers with inorganic nanometer‐sized solids. Bionanocomposites are a new emerging class of hybrid nanostructured materials based on the synergistic assembly of natural polymers and nanometer‐scale inorganic solids. They are promising materials for a wide number of advanced applications, being strongly related with biomineralization processes and biomimetic and bioinspired materials.