Formation of aragonitic layered structures from kaolinite and amorphous calcium carbonate precursors

Clay materials have been an ever-present accoutrement of modern civilization; improvements to process these materials have quickened their utilization for use in complex multiaxial load-bearing structures. Specifically, with better methods to organize the constituent metal oxide components in clay, the distribution of characteristic nematic and smectic phases can be controlled. In this work, we utilize the interactions of an amorphous calcium carbonate phase with kaolinite to form a complex composite that can be organized into distinct hierarchical structures. We demonstrate that these ACC-kaolinite composites can maintain characteristic long-range-ordered layer-by-layer structures across many length scales, from nano- to millimeter, through convenient and economical processing at room temperature.