Chemistry Student’s Donut-shaped Crystal Image Featured on High-impact Journal Cover

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science chemistry undergraduate student Celina Detwiler Gray’s image of donut-shaped SrSO4 crystals was featured on the cover of the highly ranked journal,  ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces  (Oct. 14, 2025). Her peer-reviewed publication, “Engineering Curved Strontium Sulfate Crystals through Biomimetic Crystallization,” also appeared in the issue. While the mineral strontium sulfate usually forms edgy, tabular crystals in sedimentary rocks, the Florida Atlantic researchers engineered doughnut-shaped crystals by incorporating the peptide polyglutamic acid. In doing so, they mimicked the crystallization of skeletal elements in many living organisms.

This study was developed in the Bioinorganic Materials Lab run by Vivian Merk, Ph.D., corresponding author and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the Schmidt College of Science, and the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The research highlights the importance of nanoscale molecular interactions between growing crystals and charged polyelectrolytes, which are crucial to understanding the self-assembly of hierarchical organic–inorganic superstructures. Earth alkaline minerals bear technological potential in the field of optoelectronics, such as curved waveguides.

While Gray is the first author of the paper, other students from Merk’s lab served as co-authors: Alejandra Coronel-Zegarra, a chemistry Ph.D. student, Andrienne Martin, a recent M.S. biomedical engineering graduate, and Oliver Wang, a summer intern.

“Celina volunteered in my laboratory for two years as a dual-enrolled FAU High School and undergraduate student majoring in chemistry,” said Merk. “I am proud of her accomplishments in undergraduate research. Her dedication and passion for science have led to this outstanding achievement.”

This publication arose from a collaboration with the University of Alabama, the Center for Nanophase Materials Science at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Diamond Light Source synchrotron in the United Kingdom.