In Langmuir, 2012, 28 (4), pp 2151–2155, Insung S. Choi et al provide a novel approach to single-cell encapsulations of microbial material using TiO2 as fully inorganic matrix. The bioencapsulation of living cells in sol-gel materials, including metal oxides is already a relatively well studied phenomenon, but the gel was produced in this case through enzymatic biomineralization using carboxylate-titanate complex (TiBALDH) as starting material. Cheap and chemically stable carboxylate-metallates are a potent but still underexploited class of precursors in sol-gel.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/la203667z
Sung Ho Yang, Eun Hyea Ko, and Insung S. Choi
