Biohybrids for Environmental Remediation and Biosensing 263

Biohybrid materials are composed of living cells–non-living materials or organic-inorganic or

biomolecules-organic/inorganic materials. Most common biomolecules are associated/conjugated

with inorganic materials to develop biohybrids which provide materials with improved features. The

presence of biomolecules in biohybrid materials contributes to biomimetic properties, outstanding

biocompatibility, improved functionality, etc. Due to the exceptional characteristics biohybrids are

applied and hold promising applications in every field of research and development.

In this chapter, biohybrids, their two (biological and support) components, synthesis processes

and their superiority over conventional materials are described. The morphology of a biohybrid

material plays a very important role and contributes significantly to achieve the best suited application

of developed biohybrid material. Therefore, various morphologies of biohybrid materials and their

applications are discussed. The applications of biohybrids with emphasis on the bioremediation and

monitoring of heavy metals and pesticides are also described. The objective of this chapter is to

strengthen the interdisciplinary research between biosciences and material sciences with reasonable

solutions for sustainable environment.

15.2 Biohybrids

In the field of material science, rapid development has been made in the past few decades wherein

biological sciences have contributed significantly. Biohybrid materials have played an important

role. A biohybrid material is composed of two components. One is the biologically active component

which includes microorganisms, living cells, enzymes, etc., and the other supports (organic/

inorganic nanomaterials) (Figure 15.1). Biomolecules provide a process such as their functions

of synthesis, sensing, secretion, etc. However, support materials enable protection and stability to

the biomolecules (Ouyang et al. 2020). As advantages of biomolecules and support materials are

combined, biohybrids exhibit improved characteristics over conventional materials and offer dual

functionality.

For the synthesis of biohybrid materials, many biomolecules (Mishra et al. 2017, Mishra

et al. 2020a, Shukla et al. 2020, Ouyang et al. 2020) and as support material various polymers,

nanoparticles, etc., have been used. A support material is present as a coating over the surface of

biomolecules and gives protection against a harsh microenvironment. In order to develop biohybrids

different techniques like sol-gel technique, moulding, electrospinning, spray drying, microfluidics,

3D printing have been widely applied. Using these methods, biohybrids with various morphologies

Figure 15.1. Biohybrid materials, its components and potential field of applications.