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Biomimetics
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Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition
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Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition

A special issue of Biomimetics (ISSN 2313-7673). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomimetics of Materials and Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 May 2024) | Viewed by 11668

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tun Naw Sut

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Guest Editor
School of Chemical Engineering and Translational Nanobioscience Research Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Interests: biomembranes; biointerfacial science; supported lipid bilayers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Bo Kyeong Yoon

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Guest Editor
School of Healthcare and Biomedical Engineering, Chonnam National University, Yeosu 59626, Republic of Korea
Interests: antimicrobial lipids; lipid membrane biotechnology; biosensors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biomimicry is a highly sought-out feature in various research fields and applications, such as biointerfacial science and biosensors, where natural biological structures and/or properties are required and/or desired for the intended functions. This is achieved by using functional materials that are built with inspiration from biology via the bottom–up self-assembly and/or the top–down process to replicate various aspects of biology. This allows for control over those aspects with reproducibility and the ability to finetune, which, otherwise, is limited in biology, so that relevant research and application needs are met.

In this Special Issue, we welcome a wide range of research works, from fundamental studies to applications dealing with biofunctional materials. The goal of this Special Issue is to present and promote the valuable contributions of researchers and scientists across different disciplines to the development and applications of bioinspired and biomimetic functional materials, which will benefit the scientific community, and, hopefully, society at large.

Dr. Tun Naw Sut
Dr. Bo Kyeong Yoon
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomimetics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biomimetic systems
  • bioinspired materials
  • functional biomaterials
  • biointerfaces
  • bioengineering
  • biotechnology

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 167 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial for the Special Issue: “Biomimicry and Functional Materials—First, Second, and Third Editions”
by Tun Naw Sut and Bo Kyeong Yoon
Biomimetics 2024, 9(7), 437; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9070437 - 17 Jul 2024
Viewed by 604
Abstract
Nature has long been a source of inspiration for innovation in materials science [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition)

Research

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13 pages, 4085 KiB  
Article
Efficient Bioactive Surface Coatings with Calcium Minerals: Step-Wise Biomimetic Transformation of Vaterite to Carbonated Apatite
by Dong Hyun Kim, Ki Ha Min and Seung Pil Pack
Biomimetics 2024, 9(7), 402; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9070402 - 2 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1018
Abstract
Carbonated apatite (CAp), known as the main mineral that makes up human bone, can be utilized in conjunction with scaffolds to increase their bioactivity. Various methods (e.g., co-precipitation, hydrothermal, and biomimetic coatings) have been used to provide bioactivity by forming CAp on surfaces [...] Read more.
Carbonated apatite (CAp), known as the main mineral that makes up human bone, can be utilized in conjunction with scaffolds to increase their bioactivity. Various methods (e.g., co-precipitation, hydrothermal, and biomimetic coatings) have been used to provide bioactivity by forming CAp on surfaces similar to bone minerals. Among them, the use of simulated body fluids (SBF) is the most popular biomimetic method for generating CAp, as it can provide a mimetic environment. However, coating methods using SBF require at least a week for CAp formation. The long time it takes to coat biomimetic scaffolds is a point of improvement in a field that requires rapid regeneration. Here, we report a step-wise biomimetic coating method to form CAp using calcium carbonate vaterite (CCV) as a precursor. We can manufacture CCV-transformed CAp (V-CAp) on the surface in 4 h at least by immersing CCV in a phosphate solution. The V-CAp deposited surface was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images according to the type of phosphate solutions to optimize the reaction conditions. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) analysis validated the conversion of CCV to V-CAp on surfaces. In addition, the bioactivity of V-CAp coating was analyzed by the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts in vitro. V-CAp showed 2.3-folded higher cell proliferation and 1.4-fold higher ALP activity than the glass surface. The step-wise method of CCV-transformed CAp is a biocompatible method that allows the environment of bone regeneration and has the potential to confer bioactivity to biomaterial surfaces, such as imparting bioactivity to non-bioactive metal or scaffold surfaces within one day. It can rapidly form carbonated apatite, which can greatly improve time efficiency in research and industrial applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition)
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11 pages, 982 KiB  
Article
Kinetic Model of Fluorescein Release through Bioprinted Polylactic Acid Membrane
by Antonio de Nigris, Antonio Minó, Giuseppe Cinelli, Matilde Colella, Francesco Lopez and Luigi Ambrosone
Biomimetics 2024, 9(6), 342; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9060342 - 5 Jun 2024
Viewed by 849
Abstract
Polylactic acid (PLA)-based cylindrical membranes for the controlled release of fluorescein sodium salt (FS) were prepared by bioprinting on systems with an initial FS concentration of 0.003763 gdm−3 and 37.63 gdm−3, and the drug release process was monitored in a [...] Read more.
Polylactic acid (PLA)-based cylindrical membranes for the controlled release of fluorescein sodium salt (FS) were prepared by bioprinting on systems with an initial FS concentration of 0.003763 gdm−3 and 37.63 gdm−3, and the drug release process was monitored in a bath at 37 °C. Photographs, acquired at regular intervals during the process, revealed marked osmotic swelling of the polymer. Osmotic swelling consists in the enlargement of the polymer structure and due to the influx of water molecules across the membrane. The cylindrical PLA membrane starts to significantly swell once a certain threshold range is crossed. Important amounts of FS can dissolve under these radically changed circumstances, and the dissolved FS molecules are mobile enough to diffuse out of the cylinder, thus allowing drug release. As a matter of fact, in this investigation, we ascertained that polymer swelling promotes the mass transport phenomenon by altering the conditions for drug dissolution and diffusion, hence facilitating FS release after a specific lag time. Furthermore, in order to compare the release kinetics, the half-release time, t0.5, was taken into consideration. The data of this study evidence that, while increasing the initial concentration of FS by three orders of magnitude, the time parameter, t0.5, is only reduced by 5/6. In addition, the yield of the release process is drastically reduced due to the strong aggregation ability of the dye. Finally, it is demonstrated that a compressed exponential kinetic model fits the experimental data well despite the varying physical conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition)
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14 pages, 4115 KiB  
Article
Lamellar Septa-like Structured Carbonate Apatite Scaffolds with Layer-by-Layer Fracture Behavior for Bone Regeneration
by Ahmad Nazir Taleb Alashkar, Koichiro Hayashi and Kunio Ishikawa
Biomimetics 2024, 9(2), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9020112 - 14 Feb 2024
Viewed by 2011
Abstract
Generally, ceramics are brittle, and porosity is inversely correlated with strength, which is one of the challenges of ceramic scaffolds. Here, we demonstrate that lamellar septum-like carbonate apatite scaffolds have the potential to overcome these challenges. They were fabricated by exploiting the cellular [...] Read more.
Generally, ceramics are brittle, and porosity is inversely correlated with strength, which is one of the challenges of ceramic scaffolds. Here, we demonstrate that lamellar septum-like carbonate apatite scaffolds have the potential to overcome these challenges. They were fabricated by exploiting the cellular structure of the cuttlebone, removing the organic components from the cuttlebone, and performing hydrothermal treatment. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the scaffolds had a cellular structure with walls between lamellar septa. The interwall and interseptal sizes were 80–180 and 300–500 μm, respectively. The size of the region enclosed by the walls and septa coincided with the macropore size detected by mercury intrusion porosimetry. Although the scaffold porosity was extremely high (93.2%), the scaffold could be handled without disintegration. The compressive stress–strain curve demonstrated that the scaffolds showed layer-by-layer fracture behavior, which seemed beneficial for avoiding catastrophic failure under impact. When the scaffolds were implanted into rabbit femurs, new bone and blood vessels formed within the scaffold cells at 4 weeks. At 12 weeks, the scaffolds were almost entirely replaced with new bone. Thus, the lamellar septum-like cellular-structured carbonate apatite is a promising scaffold for achieving early bone regeneration and compression resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition)
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16 pages, 5912 KiB  
Article
Unraveling How Antimicrobial Lipid Mixtures Disrupt Virus-Mimicking Lipid Vesicles: A QCM-D Study
by Suji Moon, Tun Naw Sut, Bo Kyeong Yoon and Joshua A. Jackman
Biomimetics 2024, 9(2), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9020067 - 24 Jan 2024
Viewed by 1589
Abstract
Single-chain lipid amphiphiles such as fatty acids and monoglycerides are promising antimicrobial alternatives to replace industrial surfactants for membrane-enveloped pathogen inhibition. Biomimetic lipid membrane platforms in combination with label-free biosensing techniques offer a promising route to compare the membrane-disruptive properties of different fatty [...] Read more.
Single-chain lipid amphiphiles such as fatty acids and monoglycerides are promising antimicrobial alternatives to replace industrial surfactants for membrane-enveloped pathogen inhibition. Biomimetic lipid membrane platforms in combination with label-free biosensing techniques offer a promising route to compare the membrane-disruptive properties of different fatty acids and monoglycerides individually and within mixtures. Until recently, most related studies have utilized planar model membrane platforms, and there is an outstanding need to investigate how antimicrobial lipid mixtures disrupt curved model membrane platforms such as intact vesicle adlayers that are within the size range of membrane-enveloped virus particles. This need is especially evident because certain surfactants that completely disrupt planar/low-curvature membranes are appreciably less active against high-curvature membranes. Herein, we conducted quartz crystal microbalance–dissipation (QCM-D) measurements to investigate the membrane-disruptive properties of glycerol monolaurate (GML) monoglyceride and lauric acid (LA) fatty acid mixtures to rupture high-curvature, ~75 nm diameter lipid vesicle adlayers. We identified that the vesicle rupture activity of GML/LA mixtures mainly occurred above the respective critical micelle concentration (CMC) of each mixture, and that 25/75 mol% GML/LA micelles exhibited the greatest degree of vesicle rupture activity with ~100% efficiency that exceeded the rupture activity of other tested mixtures, individual compounds, and past reported values with industrial surfactants. Importantly, 25/75 GML/LA micelles outperformed 50/50 GML/LA micelles, which were previously reported to have the greatest membrane-disruptive activity towards planar model membranes. We discuss the mechanistic principles behind how antimicrobial lipid engineering can influence membrane-disruptive activity in terms of optimizing the balance between competitive membrane remodeling processes and inducing anisotropic vs. isotropic spontaneous curvature in lipid membrane systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition)
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16 pages, 11271 KiB  
Article
Preparation of Natural Plant Polyphenol Catechin Film for Structural Coloration of Silk Fabrics
by Shuaikang Yang, Desheng Sha, Yijiang Li, Meiqi Wang, Xiaowei Zhu, Xiangrong Wang, Guoqiang Chen, Yichen Li and Tieling Xing
Biomimetics 2024, 9(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9010015 - 1 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1808
Abstract
Traditional textile dyeing uses chemical pigments and dyes, which consumes a large amount of water and causes serious environmental pollution. Structural color is an essential means of achieving green dyeing of textiles, and thin-film interference is one of the principles of structural coloring. [...] Read more.
Traditional textile dyeing uses chemical pigments and dyes, which consumes a large amount of water and causes serious environmental pollution. Structural color is an essential means of achieving green dyeing of textiles, and thin-film interference is one of the principles of structural coloring. In the assembly of structural color films, it is necessary to introduce dark materials to suppress light scattering and improve the brightness of the fabric. In this study, the conditions for the generation of nanofilms of catechin (CC) at the gas–liquid interface were successfully investigated. At the same time, environmentally friendly colored silk fabrics were novelly prepared using polycatechin (PCC) structural color films. In addition, it was found that various structural colors were obtained on the surface of silk fabrics by adjusting the time. Meanwhile, the color fastness of the structural colored fabrics was improved by introducing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to form a strong hydrogen bond between the fabric and catechin. PCC film is uniform and smooth, with a special double-layer structure, and can be attached to the surface of silk fabrics, giving the fabrics special structural colors. Through the thin-film interference formed between the visible light and the PCC film, the silk fabrics obtain bright, controllable, and uniform structural colors. This method is easy to operate and provides a new way of thinking for environmental-protection-oriented coloring of fabrics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition)
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Review

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36 pages, 6676 KiB  
Review
Biomimetic Materials for Skin Tissue Regeneration and Electronic Skin
by Sol Youn, Mi-Ran Ki, Mohamed A. A. Abdelhamid and Seung-Pil Pack
Biomimetics 2024, 9(5), 278; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9050278 - 7 May 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3161
Abstract
Biomimetic materials have become a promising alternative in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to address critical challenges in wound healing and skin regeneration. Skin-mimetic materials have enormous potential to improve wound healing outcomes and enable innovative diagnostic and sensor applications. [...] Read more.
Biomimetic materials have become a promising alternative in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to address critical challenges in wound healing and skin regeneration. Skin-mimetic materials have enormous potential to improve wound healing outcomes and enable innovative diagnostic and sensor applications. Human skin, with its complex structure and diverse functions, serves as an excellent model for designing biomaterials. Creating effective wound coverings requires mimicking the unique extracellular matrix composition, mechanical properties, and biochemical cues. Additionally, integrating electronic functionality into these materials presents exciting possibilities for real-time monitoring, diagnostics, and personalized healthcare. This review examines biomimetic skin materials and their role in regenerative wound healing, as well as their integration with electronic skin technologies. It discusses recent advances, challenges, and future directions in this rapidly evolving field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimicry and Functional Materials: 3rd Edition)
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