Influence of the type of phospholipid head and of the conformation of the polyelectrolyte on the growth of calcium carbonate thin films on LB/LbL matrices

► CaCO3 has been grown on organic films consisting of polyelectrolytes and phospholipids. ► The charge of the phospholipid head group drives the binding of the polyelectrolytes. ► Randomly coiled polyelectrolytes guide the formation of CaCO3 continuous films. ► Helical conformation of the polyelectrolyte chains lead to the formation of isolated CaCO3 crystals. ► The type of the phospholipid polar head drives the formation of CaCO3 polymorphs.