Simulation of Organic Monolayers as Templates for the Nucleation of Calcite Crystals
- 28 July 2004
- journal article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Langmuir
- Vol. 20 (18), 7630-7636
- https://doi.org/10.1021/la049552b
Abstract
Living organisms can control the size, shape, and structure of minerals. Attempts to reproduce this biological control in the laboratory often use Langmuir monolayers of long-chain carboxylic acids. We use large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the interfacial energies of calcite crystals grown on stearic (octadecanoic) acid monolayers. In light of these simulations we discuss the argument that the orientation of the growing mineral is controlled by the organic substrate acting as a template which the mineral must fit in order to grow.Keywords
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