Nature’s ability to precisely control over the size, orientation, and complex morphologies of biominerals has provided inspiration for the development of new synthetic routes for highly ordered inorganic materials. While the nucleation templates, including self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), Langmuir film, and solid matrices , define the crystal location and crystallographic orientation, the soluble additives such as acid-rich proteins,synthetic polymers,low molecular weight molecules,and inorganic ions selectively absorb on specific crystal faces and modify the crystal growth in terms of size, shape, polymorph, and morphology. Previously we have demonstrated morphogenesis evolution of CaCO3 calcite crystals on functional SAMs in the presence of Mg~(2+) additives. In comparison to Mg~(2+) ions as soluble additives, the organic molecules possess wider range of chemical functionalities and architectures, and their composition and molecular weight can be varied conveniently. Therefore, it is expected that organic additives may potentially offer more dramatic morphological changes and fine-tuning on calcite crystallization.
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