Theoretical studies of dynamical organization and design principles of biominerals

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports theoretical research and education with the goal to understand how living organisms create the exquisitely controlled microarchitectures of biomineralized structures that lead to their extraordinary materials properties. A main focus of the work is on nacre, or mother-of-pearl, which has a highly controlled and organized microstructure that gives rise to remarkable strength and toughness - nacre is 3000 times tougher than the aragonite mineral that constitutes 95% of it. No synthetic composites outperform their components by such large factors. The aragonite tablets in nacre are highly oriented, and the standard paradigm in the field is that the crystal orientations are controlled by molecular-scale chemical templation. However, recent work by the PI and her experimental collaborators presents strong evidence that in nacre, the orientational ordering arises from nonlinear dynamical processes. This award supports research to: (1) extend a theoretical model developed by the PI for dynamical establishment of aragonite tablet crystal orientation in nacre to encompass both sheet and columnar nacre, enabling more comprehensive comparison between theory and experiments on a variety of organisms, (2) investigate other aspects of nacre architecture that could be due to dynamical self-organization processes similar to those in other condensed matter systems and materials, (3) work to understand better the design principles that these highly organized and complex structures are exploiting, and (4) investigate the implication of new experiments probing the architecture and properties of other biomineral systems with remarkable toughness, such as sea urchin tooth. Members of underrepresented groups will be actively recruited to participate in this research project. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports theoretical research and education with the goal to understand how living organisms create the exquisitely controlled microarchitectures of biomineralized structures that lead to their extraordinary materials properties. A main focus of the work is on nacre, or mother-of-pearl, which is produced by some mollusks as an inner shell layer. It is a remarkable material that has a highly controlled and organized structure that gives rise to remarkable strength and toughness - nacre is 3000 times tougher than the aragonite mineral that constitutes 95% of it. No synthetic composites outperform their components by such large factors. The PI will develop models to understand the physical processes that lead to the well organized internal structure of nacre and other biomineral systems that exhibit remarkable materials properties. The PI has the advantage of access to experimentalists working on these materials. An improved understanding of how living organisms make materials with remarkable properties can lead to the discovery of new materials with enhanced performance for a wide range of technological and industrial applications.Members of underrepresented groups will be actively recruited to participate in this research project.