Fig. 7

Schematics and characterizations of CPICs for enamel demineralization. a Schematic of ACP formation: ACP is formed when the stabilizer (TEA) is removed from CPICs. b Schematic of the epitaxial growth of crystalline HAP. The coating CPICs solution transforms into an amorphous frontier on the HAP surface, and then transforms into HAP. c SEM image exhibiting CPICs-repaired enamel and acid-etched enamel. The repaired enamel shows a similar morphology to that of native enamel. d 3D atomic force microscopy (AFM) image of repaired enamel indicates the formation of a new HAP layer. e High-magnification SEM image of the red circle in c, which shows the similar morphological texture between the repaired and native enamel. Scale bars: 20 μm (c), and 2 μm (e). Reproduced with permission from ref. ²³⁵, 2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science