Thermostability of Selected Biological Materials

Abstract

Thermostability is a crucial property of biological materials, especially in the case of their potential application in materials science, including such novel directions as Extreme Biomimetics. This approach includes research at high temperatures without destroying the 3D structure of selected biological materials that allow the development of novel nanostructured composites. Consequently, this article presents an overview of the characterization of such biomaterials as chitin, chitosan, spongin, collagen, keratin, silk, byssus, and conchiolin in the contest of their structure and thermostability with respect to future potential applications. The review also highlights the instrumental techniques used for thermal analysis of materials – thermogravimetric methods. The review covered the latest achievements in the issue of thermostability research of natural, renewable materials, and the information presented in this paper may be valuable in future practical studies.