Marine silicon for biomedical sustainability

Abstract

Despite momentous divergence from oceanic origin, human beings and marine organisms exhibit elemental homology through silicon utilization. Notably, silicon serves as a critical constituent in multiple biomedical processes. Marine biosilicon, an abundant yet underutilized class of siliceous materials, represents a frontier in green and sustainable biomedical development. Enormous interest is garnered by the pursuit of intricate inorganic structures with superior properties involving hierarchical structure, mechanical performance, surface chemical activity, autofluorescent pigment, and intrinsic biosafety. These attractive features drive marine siliceous organisms toward widespread availability in diverse biomedical fields. Current challenges are thorough comparison of biogenic sources, scalable biomanufacturing, and long-term metabolism elucidation during biomedical translations. In this review, a brief overview of marine biosilicon sources is initially clarified. Advancements of engineered marine biosilicon are discussed with improved physicochemical attributes ranging from innovative strategies for tuning the sizes, surfaces, mechanics, and biosensors to fabricating sophisticated complex architectures through pioneering biofabrication designs. Advanced applications are comprehensively summarized on tissue engineering, aesthetic medicine, hemostasis, drug delivery, biosensing and bioimaging, tumor therapeutics as well as wearable devices. Further initiatives and perspectives are extensively delineated. As the first systematic assessment of marine biosilicon materials, this review offers a state-of-the-art framework and theoretical groundwork of biosilicon harnessing for sustainable biomedical applications. It endeavors to propel biosilicified resources and convert the biosiliceous gifts from marine sources to clinical biomedicines that benefit humanity.