Figure 5: Comparison of early-nacre and mature nacre growth shown by HAADF-STEM. | Nature Communications

Figure 5: Comparison of early-nacre and mature nacre growth shown by HAADF-STEM.

From: Nanoscale assembly processes revealed in the nacroprismatic transition zone of Pinna nobilis mollusc shells

Figure 5

(a) Layers have well-defined interfaces buffered by ∼8-nm organic layers. For mature nacre (b), the layers are ordered and have interface curvature ranging ±5.0° as clearly shown by the image's Fourier transform (c). The first several nacre layers, that is, early nacre (d), are more disordered and have an interface curvature ranging roughly ±7.5° as shown by the image's Fourier transform (e). As seen in d, the interlayer spacing in early nacre increases progressively—starting as small as 120 nm. Mature nacre (b) has a spacing of ∼450 nm. Scale bars, (a) 50 nm; (b,d) 500 nm.

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