Diatoms in Focus: Chemically Doped Biosilica for Customized Nanomaterials

Diatoms are photosynthetic microalgae widely diffused aroundthe globe and well adapted to thrive in diverse environments.Their success is closely related to the nanostructured biosilicashell (frustule) that serves as exoskeleton. Said structures haveattracted great attention, thanks to their hierarchically orderednetwork of micro- and nanopores. Frustules display highspecific surface, mechanical resistance and photonic properties,useful for the design of functional and complex materials, withapplications including sensing, biomedicine, optoelectronicsand energy storage and conversion. Current technology allowsto alter the chemical composition of extracted frustules with adiverse array of elements, via chemical and biochemicalstrategies, without compromising their valuable morphology.We started our research on diatoms from the viewpoint ofmaterial scientists, envisaging the possibilities of these nano-structured silica shells as a general platform to obtain functionalmaterials for several applications via chemical functionalization.Our first paper in the field was published in ChemPlusChem tenyears ago. Ten years later, in this Perspective, we gather themost recent and relevant functional materials derived fromdiatom biosilica to show the growth and diversification that thisfield is currently experiencing, and the key role it will play in thenear future.