Zaklina Burghard

TL;DR: In this article, a comparative Vickers indentation study is made of two glasses, soda-lime and borosilicate, using optical measurement of the indentation crack lengths (ICL) and by atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurement of crack-opening displacements (COD) in the near-cracktip regions.

TL;DR: Taking inspiration from a sea urchin spine with highly ordered nanoparticles in the biomineral mesocrystal, a bioinspired route toward a C-S-H mesocrystals with highly aligned C- S-H nanoplatelets interspaced with a polymeric binder is reported, obtaining a material with a bending strength similar to nacre.

TL;DR: These films, obtained by the combination of low-temperature chemical bath deposition of titania with layer-by-layer assembly of polyelectrolytes, exhibit enhancement in a fracture toughness by a factor of 4, combined with notable increase in hardness, while the Young's modulus is largely preserved in comparison to the single titania layer.

TL;DR: The present review the successive steps, following the synthesis of the silicatein product, biosilica, and resulting in the formation of the hard monolithic spicules is given and is assumed to open new horizons in the field of biotechnology and also in biomedicine.