Counteranion‐Directed, Biomimetic Control of Silica Nanostructures on Surfaces Inspired by Biosilicification Found in Diatoms

A simple change of counteranions in catalytic templates for biomimetic silicification on surfaces dictates the size of silica nanostructures formed. It is found that the charge density of the counteranions plays an important role in controlling the structures of both templates and silica in the biomimetic silicification on surfaces (see image; scale bar = 500 nm). Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as "Supporting Information". Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.