Gradual Ordering in Red Abalone Nacre
Abstract
Red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) nacre is a layered composite biomineral that contains crystalline aragonite tablets confined by organic layers. Nacre is intensely studied because its biologically controlled microarchitecture gives rise to remarkable strength and toughness, but the mechanisms leading to its formation are not well understood. Here we present synchrotron spectromicroscopy experiments revealing that stacks of aragonite tablet crystals in nacre are misoriented with respect to each other. Quantitative measurements of crystal orientation, tablet size, and tablet stacking direction show that orientational ordering occurs not abruptly but gradually over a distance of 50 {micro}m. Several lines of evidence indicate that different crystal orientations imply different tablet growth rates during nacre formation. A theoretical model based on kinetic and gradual selection of the fastest growth rates produces results in qualitative and quantitative agreement with the experimental data and therefore demonstrates that ordering in nacre is a result of crystal growth kinetics and competition either in addition or to the exclusion of templation by acidic proteins as previously assumed. As in other natural evolving kinetic systems, selection of the fastest-growing stacks of tablets occurs gradually in space and time. These results suggest that the self-ordering of the mineral phase, which may occurmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- Advanced Light Source Division
- OSTI Identifier:
- 951954
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-1770E
Journal ID: ISSN 0002-7863; JACSAT; TRN: US0902369
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal Name:
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Journal of the American Chemical Society; Journal ID: ISSN 0002-7863
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36; ARAGONITE; CRYSTAL GROWTH; KINETICS; ORIENTATION; PROTEINS; SYNCHROTRONS; Nacre Aragonite X-PEEM
Citation Formats
Gilbert, P. U. P. A., Metzler, Rebecca A, Zhou, Dong, Scholl, Andreas, Doran, Andrew, Young, Anthony, Kunz, Martin, Tamura, Nobumichi, and Coppersmith, Susan N. Gradual Ordering in Red Abalone Nacre. United States: N. p., 2008.
Web. doi:10.1021/ja8065495.
Gilbert, P. U. P. A., Metzler, Rebecca A, Zhou, Dong, Scholl, Andreas, Doran, Andrew, Young, Anthony, Kunz, Martin, Tamura, Nobumichi, & Coppersmith, Susan N. Gradual Ordering in Red Abalone Nacre. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja8065495
Gilbert, P. U. P. A., Metzler, Rebecca A, Zhou, Dong, Scholl, Andreas, Doran, Andrew, Young, Anthony, Kunz, Martin, Tamura, Nobumichi, and Coppersmith, Susan N. 2008.
"Gradual Ordering in Red Abalone Nacre". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja8065495. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/951954.
@article{osti_951954,
title = {Gradual Ordering in Red Abalone Nacre},
author = {Gilbert, P. U. P. A. and Metzler, Rebecca A and Zhou, Dong and Scholl, Andreas and Doran, Andrew and Young, Anthony and Kunz, Martin and Tamura, Nobumichi and Coppersmith, Susan N},
abstractNote = {Red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) nacre is a layered composite biomineral that contains crystalline aragonite tablets confined by organic layers. Nacre is intensely studied because its biologically controlled microarchitecture gives rise to remarkable strength and toughness, but the mechanisms leading to its formation are not well understood. Here we present synchrotron spectromicroscopy experiments revealing that stacks of aragonite tablet crystals in nacre are misoriented with respect to each other. Quantitative measurements of crystal orientation, tablet size, and tablet stacking direction show that orientational ordering occurs not abruptly but gradually over a distance of 50 {micro}m. Several lines of evidence indicate that different crystal orientations imply different tablet growth rates during nacre formation. A theoretical model based on kinetic and gradual selection of the fastest growth rates produces results in qualitative and quantitative agreement with the experimental data and therefore demonstrates that ordering in nacre is a result of crystal growth kinetics and competition either in addition or to the exclusion of templation by acidic proteins as previously assumed. As in other natural evolving kinetic systems, selection of the fastest-growing stacks of tablets occurs gradually in space and time. These results suggest that the self-ordering of the mineral phase, which may occur completely independently of biological or organic-molecule control, is fundamental in nacre formation.},
doi = {10.1021/ja8065495},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/951954},
journal = {Journal of the American Chemical Society},
issn = {0002-7863},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 03 00:00:00 EDT 2008},
month = {Wed Sep 03 00:00:00 EDT 2008}
}