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Mesocrystalline structure and mechanical properties of biogenic calcite from sea urchin spine
Author(s) -
Cölfen Helmut,
Bürgi Hans-Beat,
Chernyshov Dmitry,
Stekiel Michal,
Chumakova Aleksandra,
Bosak Alexei,
Wehinger Björn,
Winkler Bjoern
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
acta crystallographica section b
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.604
H-Index - 33
ISSN - 2052-5206
DOI - 10.1107/s2052520622000634
Subject(s) - calcite , materials science , chemical physics , crystal (programming language) , scattering , mesoscopic physics , mineralogy , crystallography , geology , chemistry , physics , optics , condensed matter physics , computer science , programming language
Using X‐ray scattering, we measured detailed maps of the diffuse scattering intensity distribution and a number of phonon dispersion branches for a single crystal of inorganically formed natural calcite and for high‐quality mesocrystals of biogenic calcite from a Mediterranean sea urchin spine. A comparison shows that the known differences in the mechanical properties between the `strong' biogenic and `brittle' abiotic material should be attributed to the mesoscopic architecture of the crystal rather than to a modification of the calcite crystal structure. The data are rationalized by comparing them to the results of ab initio model calculations of lattice dynamics. For the mesocrystal, they are augmented by the evaluation of the faceting of the constituent nanocrystals.