Physicochemical characterization of biogenic calcium carbonate. (10th July 2018) - Rocha, Katari P.
ABSTRACT: Biogenic minerals are widely studied materials for their particular properties derived from their hierarchical structure, using building blocks with sizes spanning several orders of magnitude. These special features can be assessed with different analytical tools, and it is important to know their capabilities and limitations. In order to determine the hierarchical structure of the shells, the nacre and prismatic layers of two marine animals were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Based on these assessments, we found that the combination of these three techniques is useful to describe each structure level, and to explain some of the unique properties observed in these natural materials.