Abstract — A key feature of single-cell marine organisms called diatoms is their silica exoskeleton with nanoporous morphology. These naturally grown structures provide a promising basis for new biomimetic structural designs, but may also be used directly in their native form. Microscale diaphragms found in nature often can withstand large deformations. They also show vibration eigenfrequencies in the high MHz to GHz range. These structural properties open up the possibilities for the development of production technologies based on micromanipulation of bio-inspired or bio-derived microscale structures. In this work we report the results of FEM simulations aimed at investigating the effects of stiffness, pore diameter, and thickness on the vibrational characteristics of diatom frustule structures. Index Terms—Biomaterials, Coscinodiscus sp., Diatom Frustules, Eigenfrequency, Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation I. INTRODUCTION ANOMETRE scale manipulation of material volumes has become a major scientific theme in recent decades, since it opens the possibilities of obtaining substances and structures with hitherto unprecedented combinations of functional and deformation properties. [1] One of the major challenges in nanotechnology lies in the stringent demands that arise in terms of the high complexity and cost of the processing equipment, and associated significant environmental impact. In view of these considerations, significant efforts have been directed at the search for envi - Manuscript received April 9, 2019; revised April 12, 2019. This work was supported in part by the Royal Society, UK (IEC/R2/170223), EPSRC UK (EP/P005381/1), and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR 18-44-920012). Bakhodur Abdusatorov is a doctoral student of Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Center for Energy Science and Technology Moscow, 121205, Russia, email: bakhodur.abdusatorov@skoltech.ru Joris Everaerts is with MBLEM, the University of Oxford, Department of Engineering Science, Oxford OX1 3PJ; e-mail: joris.everaerts@eng.ox.ac.uk Alexei I. Salimon is Senior Research Engineer at the Hierarchically Structured Materials (HSM) lab, Skoltech Center for Energy Science at Technology (CEST), Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow 121205, Russia, e-mail: a.salimon@skoltech.ru Alexander M. Korsunsky is Head of the Multi-Beam Laboratory for Engineering Microscopy (MBLEM), and Professor of Engineering Science, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK (tel. +44 1865 273043, e-mail: alexander.korsunsky@eng.ox.ac.uk ), and Visiting Professor, Hierarchically Structured Materials (HSM) lab, SM) lab, Skoltech Center for Energy Science at Technology (CEST), Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow 121205, Russia -ronmentally friendly, nature-like processes for nanofabrication. In Nature, nanostructuration arises in many instances within living systems, not only soft matter, but also in mineralized tissues containing ceramics such as hydroxyapatite (mammalian bone and teeth), calcite (crustacean nacre), and silica (diatom algae). Manipulating materials to obtain nanostructured objects and components offer a route to significant advances towards new technology [2]. Whilst the development of nature-like (biomimetic) approaches is still at its early stages, some fundamental insights are beginning to be collected into ‘soft’ processes and mechanisms that underlie the transport and deposition of matter in a controlled and precise fashion used by Nature in its complex architectures. For example, the dissolution of amorphous glassy germania (GeO 2 ) and its re-precipitation in crystalline form were observed using in situ liquid cell within TEM [3]. This study represents a significant step towards elucidating the possible mechanisms that make use of aqueous solution to produce solid structures with precisely defined properties. This is of obvious relevance for understanding the formation of marine crustacean and algal skeletons that involves atomic species present in the world ocean and freshwater water bodies. Imitating these natural processes is likely to provide a route towards water-based, environmentally friendly fabrication of intricately nanostructured elements. However, many questions remain unanswered. How does nanostructuration occur? What templates underlie the formation of specific structural elements, such as micron- sized pores containing finer, nano-scale sub-channels? How and why did these intricate architectures evolve through natural selection and optimization? What vital functions do they fulfil in the host organism, through the combination of their photonic, chemical, micro-fluidic, strength, and vibrational properties? [4] In the present study we focus attention on the numerical study of the mechanical vibration behavior of the mineralized structural shell (frustule) of an important group of microscopic algae: diatoms. Diatoms obtain their name from the asexual reproductive mechanism, in which cells divide into two. They are one of the most wide-spread microorganisms on the planet. Diatom algae produce about 1/2 of the world's ocean biomass, 2/3 of the oxygen produced by the World's oceans, and about 1/4 of all oxygen and organic matter release on the planet Earth. There are around 200,000 species of diatom algae known to science. They have a unique porous architecture with dimensions ranging from 2 μm to 2000 μm [5]. The walls cells mainly composed of amorphous hydrated silica SiO 2* 2H 2 O with a On the prospects of using Biogenic Silica for MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) Bakhodur Abdusatorov, Joris Everaerts, Alexei I. Salimon, and Alexander M. Korsunsky, Member, IAENG N Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2019 WCE 2019, July 3-5, 2019, London, U.K. ISBN: 978-988-14048-6-2 ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online) WCE 2019