Fabrication of biomimetic laminated composite by mimicking the cyclical matrix control process to form the highly structured Mollusca nacre was presented in this paper. (PDAC/PSS)_n self-assembled multilayers were built-up through alternative adsorption of polycation and polyanion to a substrate as matrices and their chemical structure was characterized by UV-vis absorption spectra. And then the deposition of CaCO₃ took place on the multilayers by dipping them into a supersaturated CaCO₃ solution. The crystals regulated by (PDAC/PSS)₁₅PDAC exhibited hexahedral shape and had a size of about 30～40 μm after 10 h deposition. Hexagonal CaCO₃ platelet crystals could be observed on (PDAC/PSS)₁₅ with a relative small size of 10～20 μm, which is very similar to the crystals existing in natural nacre. Therefore, CaCO₃ crystals with remarkable morphology similarity to natural biomineralization products were obtained in the presence of artificial polyanion. However, X-ray diffraction results indicated that crystal lattice of both the samples was different from any kind of natural nacre. Consequently, it might be supposed that electrostatic effect is one of the key factors in morphology control while the crystal lattice was determined by other factors. Furthermore, end surface SEM image of (PDAC/PSS)₁₅-CaCO₃ composite elucidated that alternation of multilayer growth and deposition of inorganic crystals coupled with morphology regulation could form laminated material.

Key words: self-assembled multilayers, calcium carbonate, biomimetic biomineralization, nacre