TY - JOUR
AU1 - Xiao, Junwu
AU2 - Yang, Shihe
AB - Organisms can control the shapes and sizes of inorganic nanocrystals and arrange them into ordered structures such as amorphous precursors, which perform remarkable mechanical and optical functions. This interesting phenomenon has galvanized many attempts to mimic the biomineralization process for synthesizing novel materials. In this work, we study the crystallization processes starting from an amorphous calcium carbonate precursor stabilized by citric acid molecules. By varying cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) concentrations, we found that the crystallization, in contrast to the classical crystallization, starts from amorphous particles in much the same way as in biomineralization. Novel morphologies of calcium carbonate polycrystals, including hollow radiating cluster-like particles, hollow sheaf-like crystals, and hollow rods, have been identified and found to be regulated by CTAB micellar structures. The mineralization process is discussed in terms of cooperative reorganization of coupled inorganic and organic components, which is relevant to models of matrix-mediated nucleation in biomineralization. The result should help to understand aggregation driven formation of complex material structures as well as biomineralization mechanisms.
TI - Hollow calcite crystals with complex morphologies formed from amorphous precursors and regulated by surfactant micellar structures
JF - CrystEngComm
DO - 10.1039/c003839c
DA - 2010-09-21
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/royal-society-of-chemistry/hollow-calcite-crystals-with-complex-morphologies-formed-from-MRxmeN0XYk
SP - 3296
EP - 3304
VL - 12
IS - 10
DP - DeepDyve
ER -