Enabling Gradient Biomineralization and Prestress with a Macroscopic Matrix: The Fish Swim Bladder for Bioprocessing-Inspired Fabrication

Abstract

Bone's hierarchical mineralization inspires advanced materials, yet replicating it macroscopically remains challenging. The fish swim bladder (FSB) is introduced as a natural collagen scaffold that bridges this gap. Its bone-like architecture guides gradient biomineralization and intrinsic prestress generation, yielding exceptional mechanical properties. The mineralized FSB enables bioprocessing-inspired fabrication of high-performance bulk composites.