Bioinspired synthesis of calcium carbonate hollow spheres with a nacre-type laminated microstructure.

In this Article, we combine the characters of hyperbranched polymers and the concept of double-hydrophilic block copolymer (DHBC) to design a 3D crystal growth modifier, HPG-COOH. The novel modifier can efficiently control the crystallization of CaCO(3) from amorphous nanoparticles to vaterite hollow spheres by a nonclassical crystallization process. The obtained vaterite hollow spheres have a special puffy dandelion-like appearance; that is, the shell of the hollow spheres is constructed by platelet-like vaterite mesocrystals, perpendicular to the globe surface. The cross-section of the wall of a vaterite hollow sphere is similar to that of nacres in microstructure, in which platelet-like calcium carbonate mesocrystals pile up with one another. These results reveal the topology effect of the crystal growth modifier on biomineralization and the essential role of the nonclassical crystallization for constructing hierarchical microstructures.