Cover Picture: Acceleration of Calcite Kinetics by Abalone Nacre Proteins (Adv. Mater. 22/2005)

Abstract

Abalone utilizes a system of macromolecular matrices and soluble proteins to produce beautiful and mechanically robust shells. The cover shows work by Qiu and co‐workers reported on p. 2678, in which AP8 proteins isolated from the shell of red abalone are shown to alter the growth of calcite both by accelerating the rate and modifying the shape from the simple rhombohedra seen in the upper left of the scheme to the more complex form seem in the lower right. The changes are made manifest at an atomic scale through alterations in the growth speed and shape of the atomic steps that form the growth hillocks (background).