Kinetic model of impurity poisoning during growth of calcite
The central role of the organic component in biologically controlled mineralization is widely recognized. These proteins are characterized by a high proportion of acidic amino acid residues, especially aspartate, Asp. At the same time, biomineralization takes place in the presence of a number of naturally-occurring, inorganic impurities, particularly Mg and Sr. In an attempt to decipher the controls on calcite growth imposed by both classes of modifiers, we have used in situ AFM to investigate the dependence of growth morphology and step kinetics on calcite in the presence of Sr{sup 2+}, as well as a wide suite of Aspartic acid-bearing polypeptides. In each case, we observe a distinct and step-specific modification. Most importantly, we find that the step speed exhibits a characteristic dependence on impurity concentration not predicted by existing crystal growth models. While all of the impurities clearly induce appearance of a 'dead zone,' neither the width of that dead zone nor the dependence of step speed on activity or impurity content can be explained by invoking the Gibbs-Thomson effect, which is the basis for the Cabrera-Vermilyea model of impurity poisoning. Common kink-blocking models also fail to explain the observed dependencies. Here we propose a kinetic model of inhibition based on a 'cooperative' effect of impurity adsorption at adjacent kink sites. The model is in qualitative agreement with the experimental results in that it predicts a non-linear dependence of dead zone width on impurity concentration, as well as a sharp drop in step speed above a certain impurity content. However, a detailed model of impurity adsorption kinetics that give quantitative agreement with the data has yet to be developed.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15014168
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-CONF-204243; TRN: US200805%%432
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Presented at: 19th American Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy West, Fallen Leaf Lake, CA, United States, Jun 12 - Jun 15, 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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