A really warm summer welcome to the third issue of the forth volume of Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials (BBN). We have excellent news for all our current and future authors. Long awaited and worthwhile, BBN has received its first impact factor, and – in my opinion – an outstanding initial value of 0.978 (the 5-year impact factor is 1.067). This is proof that BBN is internationally recognised and respected. BBN is also publishes papers quickly; it takes around 80 days to publish from first submission to acceptance. On behalf of my fellow editorial board members, I want to thank all contributors for your major efforts since we launched.
We will have another change in the editorial office; Dr Sarah Brown, the current managing editor, will leave ICE publishing to develop her career in another environment. Taking the managing duties over only relatively recently, we had an intense cooperation and discussion on all publication related issues. Her profound scientific and managing knowledge was always a great support for me and the entire editorial board. We would like to thank Dr Sarah Brown for all her work, effort and time she committed to BBN.
The present third issue of the forth volume consists of four papers in total. Despite the small number, strong and impacting research stories are presented. The first topic is a review and introduction into the fascinating concept of microfibrous multifunctional metamaterials (mimumes). The second presented topic goes deep down to the molecular level and reveals biomolecular interactions of alginates with inorganic host structures. The last two remaining papers deal with original astonishing biological feature from animals (fish and owls).
Multifunctionality might be one of the most characteristic features of biological materials. Transferring multifunctionality into bioinspired materials is still a major challenge. The first paper by Akhlesh Lakhtakia1 introduces the concept of multifunctionality of metamaterials as a basic principle and its incorporation in engineered materials. Fibrous materials are manufactured from a variety of raw materials that can yield the so-called mimumes. The author shows exemplarily on poly(p-xylylene) polymers (parylene) that these mimumes exhibit ultrasonic, terahertz, light, energy and biomedical functionalities. The emergence of mimumes defines new roadmaps to a multilevel design of systems and a design strategy for developing complex material systems.
During processing of concrete construction material the interaction of polymers with the developing inorganic phases play a vital role. For the improvement of the brittleness and low tensile strength of hardened cement strengthening fibres are predominately used. An elegant nanobiomaterials approach to replace the reinforcing fibres by organic/inorganic hybrid nanofoils is presented by de Reese et al.2 The intercalation of bioengineered alginates into layered double hydroxides (LDH) was thoroughly investigated. A molecular interaction between the carboxylic groups present in the alginate with LDH was confirmed. Through the applied bioengineering techniques, the steric demand of the alginates can be tuned, which consequently alters the spacing of the layers in alginate–LDHs. The discussed hybrid alginate–LDH composites might have the potential to modify the toughness of the cementitious matrix.
The following two papers deal with distinct material properties found in living organisms; the owl plumage for silent flight and the mechanical properties of fish scales for armouring. Gao et al.3 present a comparative study of the damping characteristics of the plumage of an owl, a golden eagle and a pigeon. The first one is capable of flying silently, a prerequisite for efficient hunting, especially at night. The amplitude variation of the plumage (feathers) was measured by a laser displacement sensor and a high-speed camera. It was distinctly shown from the amplitude versus time analysis that the loss factors of the owl primary feathers and barbs are higher than those of the golden eagle and pigeon feathers. The owl feathers therefore show considerably superior vibration-damping characteristic. This work might define an innovative bioinspired approach for the development of silently moving airborne vehicles, if the mechanical noise caused by the relative motion of the propulsion aggregates can be effectively suppressed.
Armouring is an important materials feature for protection of soft tissue or other precious goods. The work of Torres et al.4 investigates a mechanical analysis of fish dermal armour from two different species. The collagen-based fish scale structures are mineralised with hydroxylapatite. The authors found that the two species exhibit different viscoelastic properties. It is proposed that a fibre–fibre or fibre–matrix friction mechanism dissipates energy during the deformation processes. This explains the superior toughness of fish scales compared with other collagen/hydroxylapatite systems. These interesting mechanical properties serve as a model for advanced bioinspired nanocomposites.
Introducing BBN to the bioinspired and biomimetic materials science landscape has been a great deal of work, but one that we are beginning to see bear fruit. Now we get started and I sincerely hope that the international recognition will trigger many additional submissions to further develop our field and provoke thorough discussion. Many interdisciplinarily working researchers will find a new home journal for their bioinspired, biomimetic and nanobiomaterials research as expressed in our journals name.
