Intercalation of Polymers in Calcium Silicate Hydrate:  A New Synthetic Approach to Biocomposites?

In recent years there has been considerable interest in the formation of ceramic-polymer composites using a variety of synthetic routes. However, in most cases non-aqueous approaches have been used. Biocomposites (bone, tooth, shell, etc.) are developed through the development of ordered structures of mineral phases from aqueous media templated by protein polymers. However, such composites are limited to biopolymers combined with a restricted number of mineral phases (apatite, calcite, aragonite) as the inorganic components. The aqueous synthesis of analogous inorganic/organic composites using synthetic polymers and a wider range of inorganic phases would spur the quest to emulate these natural composites in the laboratory. Here we report the first intercalation of polymers into the structure of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) during its precipitation from supersaturated solution and show how structural variations influence complex formation.