TY - JOUR
T1 - Fluorine in shark teeth
T2 - Its direct atomic-resolution imaging and strengthening function
AU - Chen, Chunlin
AU - Wang, Zhongchang
AU - Saito, Mitsuhiro
AU - Tohei, Tetsuya
AU - Takano, Yoshiro
AU - Ikuhara, Yuichi
PY - 2014/2/3
Y1 - 2014/2/3
N2 - Atomic-resolution imaging of beam-sensitive biominerals is extremely challenging, owing to their fairly complex structures and the damage caused by electron irradiation. Herein, we overcome these difficulties by performing aberration-corrected electron microscopy with low-dose imaging techniques, and report the successful direct atomic-resolution imaging of every individual atomic column in the complex fluorapatite structure of shark tooth enameloid, which can be of paramount importance for teeth in general. We demonstrate that every individual atomic column in shark tooth enameloid can be spatially resolved, and has a complex fluorapatite structure. Furthermore, ab initio calculations show that fluorine atoms can be covalently bound to the surrounding calcium atoms, which improves understanding of their caries-reducing effects in shark teeth. Smile! Aberration-corrected electron microscopy allows the spatial resolution of every individual atomic column in the complex fluorapatite structure of shark tooth enameloid. With the support of ab initio calculations, fluorine atoms are shown to be covalently bound to the surrounding calcium atoms, which improves understanding of their caries-reducing effects in shark teeth.
AB - Atomic-resolution imaging of beam-sensitive biominerals is extremely challenging, owing to their fairly complex structures and the damage caused by electron irradiation. Herein, we overcome these difficulties by performing aberration-corrected electron microscopy with low-dose imaging techniques, and report the successful direct atomic-resolution imaging of every individual atomic column in the complex fluorapatite structure of shark tooth enameloid, which can be of paramount importance for teeth in general. We demonstrate that every individual atomic column in shark tooth enameloid can be spatially resolved, and has a complex fluorapatite structure. Furthermore, ab initio calculations show that fluorine atoms can be covalently bound to the surrounding calcium atoms, which improves understanding of their caries-reducing effects in shark teeth. Smile! Aberration-corrected electron microscopy allows the spatial resolution of every individual atomic column in the complex fluorapatite structure of shark tooth enameloid. With the support of ab initio calculations, fluorine atoms are shown to be covalently bound to the surrounding calcium atoms, which improves understanding of their caries-reducing effects in shark teeth.
KW - ab initio calculations
KW - biominerals
KW - ceramics
KW - electron microscopy
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U2 - 10.1002/anie.201307689
DO - 10.1002/anie.201307689
M3 - Article
C2 - 24446208
AN - SCOPUS:84893434068
VL - 53
SP - 1543
EP - 1547
JO - Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
JF - Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
SN - 1433-7851
IS - 6
ER -