Formation and mechanical properties of membranes formed at the surface of walnut stain extract solutions
Authors
K. Apaydin, E. Mathieu, R. Fabre, A. Laachachi, V. Ball, and G. Francius
Reference
Journal of Bionanoscience , vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 437-444, 2015
Description
Materials based on biological molecules and produced without external energy sources may represent avenues for the design of new applications as self-healing and self-replicating compounds. Herein the synthesis of self-standing membranes from walnut stain extracts when exposed to ambient air is presented. These membranes are mechanically robust and do not entirely decompose upon heating up to 800 °C. They are composed of microorganisms (not yet identified) from the ambient air which are hold together by a dense extracellular matrix. The molecules of this extracellular matrix have been characterized by means of force extension curves performed by Atomic Force Microscopy.
