title: Formation of single-crystalline aragonite tablets/films via an amorphous precursor.
abstract: Thin tablets and films of calcium carbonate have been grown at the air-water interface via an amorphous precursor route using soluble process-directing agents and a Langmuir monolayer based on resorcarene. By using appropriate concentrations of poly(acrylic acid-sodium salt) in combination with Mg2+ ion, an initially amorphous film is deposited on the monolayer template, which subsequently crystallizes into a mosaic film composed of a mixture of single-crystalline and spherulitic patches of calcite and aragonite. Of particular importance is the synthesis of single-crystalline "tablets" of aragonite (approximately 600 nm thick), because this phase generally forms needle-like polycrystalline aggregates when grown in vitro. To our knowledge, a tabular single-crystalline morphology of aragonite has only been observed in the nacreous layer of mollusk shells. Therefore, this in vitro system may serve as a useful model for examining mechanistic issues pertinent to biomineralization, such as the influence of organic templates on nucleation from an amorphous phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116400, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
authors.forename: Fairland F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Amos
authors.forename: Denise M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Sharbaugh
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Talham
authors.forename: Laurie B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Gower
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fricke
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Volkmer
mesh_terms: D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D015394:Molecular Structure; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D002119:Calcium Carbonate