Bioinspired synthesis of inorganic crystals: Molecular control of crystal growth

The structural design of biominerals consisting of building blocks with the incorporation of organic polymers has attracted the interest of researchers in a broad range of chemistry disciplines. The complex and hierarchical architectures of biominerals are formed with molecular control in an aqueous solution system at ambient atmosphere. In this article, the bioinspired formation of hierarchical inorganic crystals exhibiting a wide variety of complex morphologies are reviewed. The molecular control for the inorganic crystals would be appliable as a smart technique for the fabrication of functional nanoscale materials.