Biomineralization and Biomimetic Synthesis of Biomineral and Nanomaterials

Biominerals and biomaterials with unique microstructure are mainly consisted of organic and inorganic materials, and exhibit excellent biological and mechanical properties. The formation mechanism of biomineral indicated that the organic matrixes have an important influence on the morphology and structure of the inorganic matrix material in the process of biomineralization. However, the biomineralization mechanism research of biomineral is still in the initial stage, many phenomena need to be further explored, such as the effect of organisms on the different morphologies and polymorphs of biominerals, the biomineralization mechanism of the formation process of the biomineral in the existence of organic matter. Biomineralization and biomimetic synthesis of biomineral and nanomaterials have been receiving considerable attention. Biomineralization is the formation process of mineral by organisms. Biomimetic synthesis is simulation of biomineralization, using the mechanism of biomineralization, to achieve biomineral and materials with special structure and function. In a word, biomimetic synthesis is learning from the mineralization of organisms and learning from nature. Therefore, we should understand the concepts, process, and mechanism of biomineralization, which was briefly reviewed in section one. Biomineral including calcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite (HA), calcium silicate, calcium carbonate, and calcium sulfate, are important calcium-based inorganic biodegradable materials and have been widely used in biomedical field. Biomineralization is the mineralization of biomineral. Biomimetic synthesis was first used in the fabrication of biomineral. So it is necessary to provide an overview of the biomimetic synthesis of biomineral. This chapter summarizes our recent endeavors on the biomimetic synthesis of biomineral including HA, calcium silicate, CaCO3, BaCO3, and SrCO3, etc. Biomineral synthesis includes morphology, structure, and function biomineral synthesis. It is well known that the structure determines property and the morphology is the external display of structure. Here, we intend to review recent progress in biomineral synthesis of other nanomaterials.