Room-temperature growth of fluorapatite/CaCO3 heterogeneous structured composites inspired by human tooth

Abstract

Organisms can synthesize heterogeneous structures with excellent mechanical properties through mineralization, the most typical of which are teeth. The tooth is an extraordinarily resilient bi-layered material that is composed of external enamel perpendicular to the tooth surface and internal dentin parallel to the tooth surface. The synthesis of enamel-like heterostructures with good mechanical properties remains an elusive challenge. In this study, we applied a biomimetic mineralization method to grow fluorapatite/CaCO₃ (FAP/CaCO₃) heterogeneous structured thin films that mimic their biogenic counterparts found in teeth through a three-step pathway: coating a polymer substrate, growing a layered calcite film, and mineralization of a fluorapatite columnar array on the calcite layer. The synthetic heterostructure composites combine well and exhibit good mechanical properties comparable to their biogenic counterparts. The FAP/CaCO₃ heterogeneous structured composite exhibits excellent mechanical properties, with a hardness and Young's modulus of 1.99 ± 0.02 GPa and 47.5 ± 0.6 GPa, respectively. This study provides a reasonable new idea for unique heterogeneous structured materials designed at room temperature.