Self-assembled chitosan nanotemplates for biomineralization of controlled calcite nanoarchitectures

Three-dimensional chitosan self-assembled nanostructures are reported whose morphology can be adjusted by tuning of the processing parameters, including the rate of solvent removal, the surface roughness of the substrate, and the polarity of the solvent used. Upon this, chitosan nanostructures of more interesting morphology and even higher complexity can be prepared, which can serve as nanotemplates for subsequent biomineralization of calcium carbonate, leading to controllable three-dimensional biominerals having the same complex morphology as that exhibited by the self-assembled chitosan nanotemplates.