Magnesium-stabilized
amorphous calcium carbonate (Mg-ACC), amorphous
magnesium calcium silicate hydrate (MCSH), and hydroxyapatite (HAp)
are prepared by a precipitation method. By cold-pressing these particles,
it is possible to produce porous bulk discs with a narrow pore size
distribution. These porous inorganic discs (Mg-ACC, MCSH, and HAp)
are investigated as stationary phases to study the chromatographic
behavior and adsorption ability of rhodamine B, methylene blue, and
ribonuclease. The adsorption affinities of different biomolecules
can be easily observed and evaluated through this method. Furthermore,
by infiltrating fabricated opaque porous discs with benzyl ether,
which has a similar refractive index as the used inorganic particles
(Mg-ACC, MCSH, and HAp), their optical properties significantly change
and the discs become translucent. Moreover, by infiltrating the MCSH
discs with a light-curing polymer, translucent composites with good
surface hardness are fabricated. By doping particles with ions such
as Ni2+, Co2+, Fe3+, and Eu3+, the color and UV–visible spectrum of the bulk discs can
be adjusted. Typically, by using iron-doped MCSH particles as the
inorganic matrix, nanocomposites, which show a steep UV-absorption
edge at 400 nm, are fabricated. Our work provides a simple and economical
method to evaluate the affinity of biomolecules to inorganic materials
and a novel way to fabricate translucent hard composite materials.
The fabricated nanocomposite discs show a great UV shielding effect
and superior surface hardness compared to polymethyl methacrylate
and commercial sunglasses, suggesting their potential as new sunglass
materials.