Research On Biomimetic Synthesis Of Inorganics In An Aqueous Ternary-Additive System

Evolution of the organisms leads to the generation of a variety of biomineral materials, with exquisite and highly functional architectures that can't be obtained from conventional process of material science. Based on the biological mechanisms of the synthesis of inorganic materials, biomimetic material engineering is a novel strategy of material design and manufacture, and now has become a promising field in material science research and industry. Natural biominerallization process is typified by the ability of small amounts of organic substances to control the modes of crystallization of certain inorganic materials, in which a range of organic molecules are involved. In long with this consideration, in this paper we demonstrate the biomimetic synthesis of inorganic materials in a soluble organic multi-additive (ternary-additive) system for the first time, and the effect of the weak interaction such as non-covalent interaction, cooperation interaction on the formation of inorganic crystals is focused on.In this work, we demonstrate that the utility of poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG), methacrylic acid (MAA), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) can cooperatively exert an exceptional control on the crystallization of CaCO3 by the in situ polymerization of MAA monomers through addition of a small amount of initiator. The complex micelles self-assembled by the polymers and surfactant provide the chemical microenvironment for the crystallization of CaCO3. The effects of the variation of polymers concentration, surfactant concentration and the corresponding transformation of micelles'structure on the crystallization of CaCO₃ were investigated. The production of well-defined hollow calcite spheres and unusual spherical assemblies with lamellar superstructures in an aqueous system of soluble ternary additives represents a novel and potentially useful...