Nanostructures in diatom frustules: functional morphology of valvocopulae in Cocconeidacean monoraphid taxa

Data di pubblicazione: 1 Gen 2005

RivistaFonte dati: ARCHIVIO

Nanopositioning is one of the most intriguing challenges in nanoelectronics and photonics. As the optoelectronic circuit components become more and more complex, the importance of nano- positioning becomes critical. For example, in single-mode fiber telecommunications it is easy to show that an alignment deviation as small as a few tens of nanometers can yield to 50 percent of loss performance. Diatoms are unicellular plants occurring in almost every aquatic environment. Their main morphological character is the frustule, a silica cell wall that consists of two valves, encasing the protoplasm, joined together by a girdle. The girdle is composed of a series of silica bands (copulae) linked together along their margins. In several diatom species, the first girdle bands (valvocopulae), which associate the valves with the rest of the girdle, appear different in shape and bring specific nanostructures devoted to facilitate …

Editore
American Scientific Publishers
Fonte
Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
ID archivio
ab12fd393e706a0679e47c020f67ad6e
Riferimenti
Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Pages: 15-24