Solution chemical synthesis of hollow vaterite particles for advanced biomaterial applications

In this work, we develop a new simple synthesis method of hollow polycrystalline monophase vaterite particles without impurities such as calcite and toxic buffer (tris(hydroxylmethyl)-aminomethane: Tris). Starting materials consist of CaCl₂, NaHCO₃, NaCl, and a flavin mononucleotide, a vitamin B₂ derivative. The resulting vaterite particles showed a spherical shell of 2-5μm surrounding a 50-500nm diameter cavity. The shells comprised 10-100 nm wide elongated fibrous crystals, which were tightly packed and radially elongated from the center of a vaterite sphere.