Fractal structures and silica films formed by the Treignac water on inert and biological surfaces

Authors

A. Smith, F. Z. Abir, Y. El Hafiane, Y. Launay, C. Faugeron-Girard, V. Gloaguen, T. Devers, A. Raynaud, C. Moine, J. Sainte-Laudy, T. Latour, J.-F. Hausman, and G. Guerriero

Reference

Nanoscale Advances, vol. 2, no. 9, pp. 3821-3828, 2020

Description

The Treignac water is a natural mineral water containing mainly orthosilicic acid. On inert substrates, it forms a silica film with fractal structures which cannot be reproduced in laboratory-reconstituted water. These structures form by condensation of orthosilicic acid monomers, following the Witten-Sander model of diffusion-limited aggregation. On biological surfaces, such as tomato leaves, the Treignac water forms a silica film with a different morphology and devoid of fractal structures. The filmogenic properties of this natural mineral water are here discussed in the context of crop protection, as the silica film can provide a barrier and a platform for the immobilization of elicitors of plant defense responses.

Link

doi:10.1039/D0NA00377H

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