This biomimicry was achieved by adding aspartic acid and glycine to the sample single-crystal calcite. A US/UK university and industry research team grew groups of single-crystal calcite in either an aspartic acid or glycine solution. The amount of amino acid in the crystal was dependent on the concentration of the solution in which it was grown. Due to its abundance, calcite is a very attractive material for a variety of applications.
Taking Strengthened Calcite Even Further
While hardened calcite is still not the best material of construction for buildings, it may have a promising future as an alternative to concrete. However, this is not the end of this research. Associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell, Shefford Baker, sees this progress as the early developmental stage of a bigger process: “This certainly opens up the door for us to think about how hard calcite could be made … Now that we’re starting to understand the control mechanisms, the question is, could we make a system in which we go further than this?”
Associate professor of materials science and engineering, as well as member of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Lara Estroff, described the research as “a breakthrough to be able to have controlled and very well quantified amounts of amino acids within single crystals.”
The research which led to this development was a highly collaborative effort by many groups from around the world. Researchers from Cornell, University of York, University of Cambridge, University of Sheffield, Technion, and Diamond Light Source (U.K.) played key roles while working in parallel on this project.
The results of this research were published in the article “Tuning hardness in calcite by incorporation of amino acids” on May 2nd, in the journal Nature Materials.