Direct fabrication of large micropatterned single crystals.
Micropatterning of single crystals for technological applications is a complex, multistep process. Nature provides alternative fabrication strategies, when crystals with exquisite micro-ornamentation directly develop within preorganized frameworks. We report a bio-inspired approach to growing large micropatterned single crystals. Micropatterned templates organically modified to induce the formation of metastable amorphous calcium carbonate were imprinted with calcite nucleation sites. The template-directed deposition and crystallization of the amorphous phase resulted in the fabrication of millimeter-sized single calcite crystals with sub-10-micron patterns and controlled crystallographic orientation. We suggest that in addition to regulating the shape, micropatterned frameworks act as sites for stress and impurity release during the amorphous-to-crystalline transition. The proposed mechanisms may have direct biological relevance and broad implications in materials synthesis.
Aizenberg
Joanna
J
Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USA.
Muller
David A
DA
Grazul
John L
JL
Hamann
D R
DR
D000818:Animals; D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D003461:Crystallography; D004447:Echinodermata / Q000737:chemistry; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*
D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D002119:Calcium Carbonate