Induced crystallization of amorphous biosilica to cristobalite by silicatein

In nature it is known that silicatein (silica protein) controls the mineralization of a wide range of biosilicas. In this paper we present our results on the induced crystallization of biosilica to cristobalite, which is the thermodynamically most stable crystalline form of silica at a relatively low temperature and ambient pressure. The phase transformation of biosilica from marine sponges to cristobalite under thermal treatment was investigated by a variety of methods, e.g., X-ray diffraction, high-resolution electron microscopy-electron diffraction, and optical methods such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Our results show that biosilica from marine sponges exhibits a direct phase transformation to cristobalite structure at a relatively low temperature (850 °C). Furthermore, it is shown that porous silica templated with silicatein proteins extracted from sponges also exhibits a phase transformation to cristobalite structure at a relatively low temperature. The surprising discovery that silicatein filaments can induce direct crystallization of biosilica to cristobalite highlights the role of silicatein in governing the synthesis and the hierarchical structure control of biosilica minerals.