Crystal Size,Morphology, and Growth Mechanism in Bio‐Inspired Apatite Nanocrystals |
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| Authors: | José Manuel Delgado‐López Ruggero Frison Antonio Cervellino Jaime Gómez‐Morales Antonietta Guagliardi Norberto Masciocchi |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, IACT (CSIC‐UGR), Armilla, Granada, Spain;2. Istituto di Cristallografia, CNR, and To.Sca.Lab. via Lucini 3, Como, Italy;3. Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland;4. Dipartimento di Scienza e Alta Tecnologia and To.Sca.Lab, Università dell'Insubria, Como, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Bio‐inspired apatite nanoparticles precipitated in the presence of citrate ions at increasing maturation times are characterized in terms of structure, size, morphology, and composition through advanced X‐ray total scattering techniques. The origin of the platy crystal morphology, breaking the hexagonal symmetry, and the role of citrate ions is explored. By cross‐coupling the size and shape information of crystal domains with those obtained by atomic force microscopy on multidomain nanoparticles, a plausible mechanism underlying the amorphous‐to‐crystal transformation is reconstructed. In the present study, citrate plays the distinct roles of inducing the platy morphology of the amorphous precursor and controlling the thickness of the Ca‐deficient apatite nanocrystals. These findings can open new scenarios also in bone mineralization, where citrate might have a broader role to play than has been thought to date. |
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| Keywords: | biomimetic apatites crystal growth total scattering methods atomic force microscopy |
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