Biomineralization: Amorphous Calcium Carbonate is Stabilized in Confinement (Adv. Funct. Mater. 13/2010)

Abstract

F. C. Meldrum, H. K. Christenson, et al. describe a device based on two crossed cylinders used to study confinement effects on precipitation of calcium carbonate. Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) remains stable for days even when the confining surfaces are as far as a micrometer apart. Such stabilization of ACC in vitro may have important implications for the understanding of biomineralization.