\u201cUnicellular organisms have responded over hundreds of millions of years to various environmental factors such as temperature, pH, and mechanical stress. As a result, some of them evolved to produce unique biomaterials that are exclusive to nature,\u201d explained Dr Igor Zlotnikov, research group leader at the B CUBE and lead author of the study.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinerals formed by living organisms often exhibit structural and crystallographic characteristics that are far beyond the production capacities offered by current synthetic methods.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team focused on L. granifera<\/em> to modify the perovskites, a type of algae that uses calcite to form shells. Their spherical shells have a unique crystal architecture, aligned radially and spread out from the sphere\u2019s centre outwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current manufacturing methods of perovskites cannot produce materials like this synthetically. We can, however, try to transform the existing natural structures into functional materials while keeping their original architecture,\u201d said Dr Zlotnikov.<\/p>\n

To transform the natural mineral shells of algae into functional perovskites, the team had to substitute chemical elements in calcite. To do this, they adapted a method developed by their collaborators at AMOLF institute in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

The materials are now ready for large-scale use<\/h3>\n

During the transformation, scientists produced different types of crystal architectures by altering the material’s chemical makeup. This meant that they could fine-tune their electro-optical properties.<\/p>\n

Moreover, by converting the calcite shells to lead halides with either iodine, bromide, or chloride, the team could create functional perovskites that are optimised to emit only red, green, or blue light.<\/p>\n

Dr Zlotnikov concluded: \u201cWe showed for the first time that minerals produced by single-cell organisms could be transformed into technologically relevant functional materials. Instead of competing with nature, we can take advantage of the years of evolutionary adaptation they already went through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The method developed by Zlotnikov\u2019s team is ready to be scaled up, opening up the possibility for the industry to take advantage of algae and numerous other calcite-forming single-celled organisms to produce functional materials with unique shapes and crystallographic properties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of scientists have successfully converted mineral shells of algae into lead halide perovskites with tuneable physical properties<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":30937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24429],"tags":[24605,833,730],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n