Biomimetic Synthesis of Prismatic Calcite Mesocrystals in the Presence of Nonionic Copolymer

A triblock copolymer of F127 was used as a model additive to influence the growth of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in a biomimetic synthesis process. The results demonstrate that F127 preferentially interacted with selected faces of calcite and induces the growth along the crystallographic c direction into prisms with mesocrystal architectures. Although only containing ether-oxygen functional groups, F127 is considered as an analogue to an array of polyanions contributing to the special morphogenesis of CaCO3. Consequently, this result provides a wider sense in the significance of the ether-oxygen groups into biomineralization mechanism and an alternative synthetic strategy for special morphology of CaCO3 materials.