What can we learn from eggshells?

Increasing demand for energy efficient, low cost durable technologies warrants the design and development of interesting materials. On the other hand many existing synthetic materials do cause problems either in their costly synthesis, applications or in their disposal. It is our current interest to observe and learn interesting synthetic methodologies developed by Natural organisms under ambient conditions and translate the know-how into the development of abiotic materials. In addition, Nature also offers pathways for the disposal of such materials in the environment. Similar to biological systems, a combination of covalent synthesis with the self-assembly assisted formation of well-defined architectures (noncovalent synthesis) allows us to develop novel multifunctional materials. This presentation will focus on our attempts to translate the knowledge gained from biological systems such as eggshells to synthetic systems. Various steps involved in this process involve reverse engineering of biomaterials through extraction, characterization of proteins followed by abiotic synthesis of biomaterials.