Biomimetic Synthesis of Calcium Carbonate Thin Films Using Hydroxylated Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) Template

Morphosynthesis of calcium-rich materials by tuning the chemical structure of organic matrices has tremendous potential in the preparation of functional mineralized materials. In this paper, we have demonstrated the deposition of thin films of CaCO3 by subtle modifications of the backbone of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) by the incorporation of many hydroxyl groups. The water-insoluble hydroxylated PMMA (HyPMMA) was used as a template along with poly(acrylic acid) (PA) as an additive for CaCO3 mineralization. Thin film deposition was controlled by the addition of an appropriate amount of PA to the crystallization medium. At lower concentrations (PA = 50 and 100 μg/mL), irregular aggregates of calcite crystallites were formed. As the concentration of PA was increased (500 μg/mL and 1 mg/mL), calcite thin films were deposited. Time-dependent crystallization showed that the precipitates obtained after 3 h were biphasic in structure, consisting of both amorphous and crystalline domains. Observations sugges...