Time-Resolved SAXS Study of Colloidal Mg-stabilized Amorphous CaCO3 Precursor for Additive Manufacturing

The process of formation of hard materials by living organisms, termed biomineralization, is renowned for its ability to form the most intricate complex structures at ambient conditions, unmatched by current synthetic efforts. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3), the most abundant biomineral, is produced by a variety of organisms for different functionalities, morphing the CaCO3 mineral for its specific application through the use of an amorphous precursor (ACC). Our group, inspired by these processes, has studied the formation of ACC and its transformation to calcite, with regard to the presence and incorporation of organic molecules, and impurity ions such as Mg2+ and ACC particle size. We recently discovered that the addition of a defined amount of amino acids induces the formation of ACC nanoparticles with a very narrow size distribution. The influence of these amino acids, however, is unknown. We will use in-situ SAXS to understand this mechanism.