The dynamics of nacre self-assembly |
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Authors: | Julyan H.E Cartwright and Antonio G Checa |
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Affiliation: | Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, CSIC, P.T. Ciencias de la Salud, Armilla, Granada, Spain. julyan@lec.csic.es |
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Abstract: | We show how nacre and pearl construction in bivalve and gastropod molluscs can be understood in terms of successive processes of controlled self-assembly from the molecular- to the macro-scale. This dynamics involves the physics of the formation of both solid and liquid crystals and of membranes and fluids to produce a nanostructured hierarchically constructed biological composite of polysaccharides, proteins and mineral, whose mechanical properties far surpass those of its component parts. |
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Keywords: | biomineralization nacre molluscs β-chitin |
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