Biomineral synthesis of SiO2 nanostructured materials by Rhizopus nigricans cell as templates

Under the artificial culture conditions, one kind of material was biominerally synthesized by means of the lower Rhizopus nigricans as cell templates and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as Si nutrition. The samples were investigated by TEM, SEM, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDX), FTIR, TGA and massive experimental data were obtained. When the concentration of TEOS is 80 mg/L, in the Rhizopus nigricans cell wall, the tube-like nanostructured SiO2 was synthesized, and its thickness is about 5 nm. The experimental. data are useful for base technology on synthesizing and well-regulated nanostructured SiO2 material, with biologic cell as its templates.