In recent years, the prevalence of hydrogel‐like organic matrices in biomineralization has gained attention as a route to synthesizing a diverse range of crystalline structures. Here, examples of hydrogels in biological, as well as synthetic, bio‐inspired systems are discussed. Particular attention is given to understanding the physical versus chemical effects of a broad range of hydrogel matrices and their role in directing polymorph selectivity and morphological control in the calcium carbonate system. Finally, recent data regarding hydrogel‐matrix incorporation into the growing crystals is discussed and a mechanism for the formation of these single‐crystal composite materials is presented.
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Asenath‐Smith et al. (2012) studied this question.
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