A Perspective on Bio-Mediated Material Structuring

Abstract

Bioinspiration, biomorphy, biomimicry, biomimetics, bionics, and biotemplating are terms used to describe the fabrication of materials or, more generally, systems to solve technological problems by abstracting, emulating, using, or transferring structures from biological paradigms. Herein, a brief overview of how the different terminologies are being typically applied is provided. It is proposed that there is a rich field of research that can be expanded by utilizing various novel approaches for the guidance of living organisms for "bio-mediated" material structuring purposes. As examples of contact-based or contact-free guidance, such as substrate patterning, the application of light, magnetic fields, or chemical gradients, potentially interesting methods of creating hierarchically structured monolithic engineering materials, using live patterned biomass, biofilms, or extracellular substances as scaffolds, are presented. The potential advantages of such materials are discussed, and examples of live self-patterning of materials are given.

Herein, the field of biotemplating is introduced and current knowledge on the guidance of biological systems is reviewed. Possibilities to use the discussed approaches to structure materials are outlined. From the intersection of the fields of biotemplating and biological guidance, the research field "bio-mediated materials structuring" is derived. In addition, potential benefits from the resulting tailored hierarchical materials are outlined.

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