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Title: 3D calcite heterostructures for dynamic and deformable mineralized matrices

Journal Article · · Nature Communications

Scales are rooted in soft tissues, and are regenerated by specialized cells. The realization of dynamic synthetic analogues with inorganic materials has been a significant challenge, because the abiological regeneration sites that could yield deterministic growth behavior are hard to form. Here we have overcome this fundamental hurdle by constructing a mutable and deformable array of three-dimensional calcite heterostructures that are partially locked in silicone. Individual calcite crystals exhibit asymmetrical dumbbell shapes and are prepared by a parallel tectonic approach under ambient conditions. The silicone matrix immobilizes the epitaxial nucleation sites through self templated cavities, which enables symmetry breaking in reaction dynamics and scalable manipulation of the mineral ensembles. With this new platform, we devised several mineral-enabled dynamic surfaces and interfaces. For example, we showed that the induced growth of minerals yielded localized inorganic adhesion for biological tissue and reversible focal encapsulation for sensitive components in flexible electronics.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); University of Chicago; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22), Scientific User Facilities Division; US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1389585
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1427514
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 8, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 6 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (1)

Talking to Cells: Semiconductor Nanomaterials at the Cellular Interface journal February 2018