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Morphology preserving solid-to-solid transformation of minerals mediated by a self-assembled temperature responsive polymer membrane: calcite to hydroxyapatite

Assemblies of nanocrystals with complex morphologies have solicited great scientific interest. Controlling the formation of these self-assembled structures has proved difficult. Here we present a novel transformation reaction for transforming a single crystal of minerals into assemblies of nanocrystals of substances with lower solubility without changing the overall morphology. This study focusses on the transformation of rhombohedral calcite crystals to assemblies of hydroxyapatite nanocrystals to control the transformation process. This yielded particle assemblies of HAP nanoparticles grossly preserving the original rhombohedral calcite morphology.