Ice Shaping Properties, Similar to That of Antifreeze Proteins, of a Zirconium Acetate Complex

S. Deville (1) , C. Viazzi (1) , J. Leloup (1) , A. Lasalle (1) , C. Guizard (1) , E. Maire (2) , J. Adrien (2) , Laurent Gremillard (2)

1 LSFC - Laboratoire de Synthèse et Fonctionnalisation des Céramiques
2 MATEIS - Matériaux, ingénierie et science [Villeurbanne]

The control of the growth morphologies of ice crystals is a critical issue in fields as diverse as biomineralization, medicine, biology, civil or food engineering. Such control can be achieved through the ice-shaping properties of specific compounds. The development of synthetic ice-shaping compounds is inspired by the natural occurrence of such properties exhibited by antifreeze proteins. We reveal how a particular zirconium acetate complex is exhibiting ice-shaping properties very similar to that of antifreeze proteins, albeit being a radically different compound. We use these properties as a bioinspired approach to template unique faceted pores in cellular materials. These results suggest that ice-structuring properties are not exclusive to long organic molecules and should broaden the field of investigations and applications of such substances.

Domains: Material chemistry

S. Deville, C. Viazzi, J. Leloup, A. Lasalle, C. Guizard, et al.. Ice Shaping Properties, Similar to That of Antifreeze Proteins, of a Zirconium Acetate Complex. PLoS ONE, 2013, 6 (10), pp.e26474. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0026474⟩. ⟨hal-00850908⟩