화학공학소재연구정보센터
Applied Surface Science, Vol.330, 262-269, 2015
Aragonite coating solutions (ACS) based on artificial seawater
Aragonite (CaCO3, calcium carbonate) is an abundant biomaterial of marine life. It is the dominant inorganic phase of coral reefs, mollusc bivalve shells and the stalactites or stalagmites of geological sediments. Inorganic and initially precipitate-free aragonite coating solutions (ACS) of pH 7.4 were developed in this study to deposit monolayers of aragonite spherules or ooids on biomaterial (e.g., UHMWPE, ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene) surfaces soaked in ACS at 30 degrees C. The ACS solutions of this study have been developed for the surface engineering of synthetic biomaterials. The abiotic ACS solutions, enriched with calcium and bicarbonate ions at different concentrations, essentially mimicked the artificial seawater composition and started to deposit aragonite after a long (4 h) incubation period at the tropical sea surface temperature of 30 degrees C. While numerous techniques for the solution deposition of calcium hydroxyapatite (Ca-10(PO4)(6)(OH)(2)), of low thermodynamic solubility, on synthetic biomaterials have been demonstrated, procedures related to the solution-based surface deposition of high solubility aragonite remained uncommon. Monolayers of aragonite ooids deposited at 30 degrees C on UHMWPE substrates soaked in organic-free ACS solutions were found to possess nano-structures similar to the mortar-and-bricktype botryoids observed in biogenic marine shells. Samples were characterized using SEM, XRD, FTIR, ICP-AES and contact angle goniometry. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.