The use of surfaces to promote heterogeneous nucleation of CaCO3 has been extensively studied to better understand natural processes of biomineralization, to develop bioinspired approaches for synthesizing composite materials with diverse functionalities, and as a route toward accelerating CO2 mineralization. Peptoids have emerged as a material of particular interest, because they offer tunable side chain chemistry while maintaining a constant long-range self-assembled architecture. Here, we investigate the ability of films of self-assembled -NH2 and -COOH terminated peptoid nanotubes to promote the nucleation of CaCO3. Using a combination of atomic force, scanning electron, and optical microscopy, we find that interwoven films of nanotubes formed from peptoids with -NH2 side chains promote the preferential formation of vaterite with the (001) plane parallel to the film and exhibit a lower interfacial energy than that reported for inorganic surfaces. In contrast, the film of -COOH-functionalized peptoid nanotubes is a much stronger promoter, giving a particle density 5 orders of magnitude larger than for the -NH2 terminated peptoid nanotubes and enabling complete coverage of individual peptoid tubes with CaCO3 nanoparticles that results in a composite material with a 50-fold increase in Young's modulus. Thus, interwoven films of peptoid nanotubes provide a useful platform for investigating the impact of specific chemical groups on nucleation and offer potential application to accelerated mineralization of CO2 for removal from the environment or modulation of mineralogy and properties of carbonate-based building materials.
Mondarte et al. (Wed,) studied this question.