title: Direct Observation of the Distribution of Gelatin in Calcium Carbonate Crystals by Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy.
abstract: Biological organic-inorganic hybrid materials often achieve excellent properties and provide inspiration for the design of advanced materials. The organic phase plays a key role in determining the properties of biogenic materials, and the spatial arrangement of organic and inorganic phases provides direct evidence for interaction between the two phases. Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy was used to visualize the gelatin distribution in two different crystalline polymorphs of calcium carbonate (vaterite and calcite) and to investigate the process by which gelatin is excluded from the crystals. The results demonstrated that gelatin is distributed through vaterite microspheres in the form of nanoparticles, whereas it tends to accumulate on the edges of the calcite rhombohedra.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), CAS Key Lab of Colloid, Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Meifang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, 100190, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Anhe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, 100190, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, 100190, Beijing, China. dai@nanoctr.cn.
authors.forename: Luru
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), CAS Key Lab of Colloid, Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China. jbli@iccas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Junbai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: biomimetic materials; calcium carbonate; hybrid materials; proteins; super-resolution microscopy