Naturally occurring and biomimetic synthesized calcite spherulites
Abstract
Naturally occurring calcite spherulitic particles were collected from East Kirkton Quarry in Bathgate, Scotland. Their microstructure has been revealed, by using XRD, EDX, SEM and HRTEM, to consist of a low crystallinity core with deposition of multilayer radially oriented calcite microrods. The sur-rounding materials of the spherulites are mainly Ca-free silicates. To understand the formation mechanism of this construction of calcite crystals, biomimetic synthesis of similar spherulites have been carried out by using alginate and stevensite as structure directing agents. It is found that algi-nate is essential for growth of the spherulites, since the spherulites are developed only when they are embedded in the alginate network, a soft matter substrate. Stevensite also plays an important role of adjusting the hardness of the alginate substrate, offering a suitable network for the self-aggregation and self-orientation of the calcite nanocrystals. Possible inter-particle interactions or driving force of the particle aggregation and self-orientation are discussed.
Citation
Wu , S , Blake , J , Guo , L & Zhou , W 2020 , ' Naturally occurring and biomimetic synthesized calcite spherulites ' , Crystal Growth & Design , vol. In press . https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.0c00379
Publication
Crystal Growth & Design
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1528-7483Type
Journal article
Description
STW thanks China Scholarship Council and University of St Andrews for a CSC-St Andrews scholarship.Collections
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