Bioinspired Compartmentalization Strategy for Coating Polymers with Self-Organized Prismatic Films

Abstract

Biomineralization provides load-bearing and protective functions to living organisms by reinforcing soft tissues. Translation of biomineralization principles to materials science in a controlled and self-organized fashion is highly desirable but challenging. A major lesson from natural systems is that crystallization may be controlled by compartmentalization and templating. Here, we develop a crystallization technique based on graphene oxide-mediated compartmentalization and on templating prismatic growth of calcite nanocoatings via control of ionic diffusivity into the microcompartments, which results in a multistage, self-organized crystallization and represents an effective strategy for providing continuous nanocoatings and enhancing the tribological performance of polymeric surfaces under contact stresses. The present research offers a bottom-up approach of using very basic biomineralization principles for the protection of polymeric surfaces, which are of interest for biomedical applications and the fabrication of high-performance functional materials in a sustainable manner.