Mineralization in complex fluids

In this overview, some new applications of micelles, vesicles and lyotropic phases used for mineralization are described. Special focus is put on cases where a complex fluid built from “stiff” structures is used as a scaffold for mineralization events in the aqueous phase. Various minerals and metals have been successfully crystallized in these templates showing that it is possible to mimic the natural vesicle archetypes in biomineralization processes, although colloidal interactions can also well over compensate the templating effect of the organic matrix.