Novel synthesis approaches for new structures in confined space inspired by natural structure-forming processes

In living organisms, confined space with specific chemical composition and elaborate spatial distribution regulates the formation of natural structures. Learning from the natural structure-forming process, novel synthesis approaches in deliberated confined systems have been proposed for obtaining designed structures. Artificial confined systems can effectively regulate the synthesis of materials with defined structures according to the geometry of confinements. Collagen fibrils provide biological confinements for the formation of hierarchical structure with periodic arrangement. Genetically engineered living organisms with designed confinements can direct the synthesis of three-dimensional nanostructures. More novel structures will be rationally fabricated in the future with the aid of deeper understanding of biological processes. (C) 2017 The Chinese Ceramic Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license