Fabrication of nanopatterned polymeric microparticles using a diatom as a sacrificial template

Abstract

Natural structures with complex hierarchical architecture are employed as biotemplates to fabricate constructs with both nano- and micro-scale features. Diatoms have served as templates for the preparation of inorganic constructs, but are under-explored for the preparation of organic constructs. Herein, we report a method to fabricate nanopatterned polymeric microparticles using the diatom as a sacrificial template.