Calcium Carbonate Mineralization in a Surface-Tension-Confined Droplets Array

Crystals

Mengying Zhang¹  Zengzilu Xia²  Jinbo Wu³  Zhong He³  Weijia Wen³ 

[1] College of Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China;Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China;Materials Genome Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China;

关键词: droplet array;    crystal growth;    calcium carbonate;    high-throughput;    biomimetic crystallization;    biomineralization;    polyacrylic acid;   

DOI  :  10.3390/cryst9060284

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Calcium carbonate biomimetic crystallization remains a topic of interest with respect to biomineralization areas in recent research. It is not easy to conduct high-throughput experiments with only a few macromolecule reagents using conventional experimental methods. However, the emergence of microdroplet array technology provides the possibility to solve these issues efficiently. In this article, surface-tension-confined droplet arrays were used to fabricate calcium carbonate. It was found that calcium carbonate crystallization can be conducted in surface-tension-confined droplets. Defects were found on the surface of some crystals, which were caused by liquid flow inside the droplet and the rapid drop in droplet height during the evaporation. The diameter and number of crystals were related to the droplet diameter. Polyacrylic acid (PAA), added as a modified organic molecule control, changed the CaCO₃ morphology from calcite to vaterite. The material products of the above experiments were compared with bulk-synthesized calcium carbonate by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy and other characterization methods. Our work proves the possibility of performing biomimetic crystallization and biomineralization experiments on surface-tension-confined microdroplet arrays.

【 授权许可】

Unknown