Organic-modified and biological silica studied by synchrotron x-ray pair distribution function measurements

Biomineralization is a process by which living organisms create composite organic/mineral tissues which have hierarchical structures on micron and submicron scales. Fine control over mineral phase and morphology make biomineralization an important inspiration for materials science. It is often not appreciated that even amorphous minerals such as silica can exhibit hierarchical structure and special properties. One difficulty is that the molecular structures of amorphous phases can be hard to elucidate. We are exploring the use of pair distribution function measurements from synchrotron x-ray scattering to study silica structures, comparing both synthetic organic-modifed silicas and germanium-containing biosilica from diatoms. The raw scattering patterns show clear differences. We will discuss how these data can be scrutinized to determine what differences may be created at the molecular level by different silicification processes.