Properties of amorphous calcium carbonate and the template action of vaterite spheres.
The fast mixing of aqueous solutions of calcium chloride and sodium carbonate could immediately result in amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). Under vigorous stirring, the formed ACC in the precipitation system will dissolve first and, then, transform within minutes to produce crystalline forms of vaterite and calcite. After that, the solution-mediated mechanism dominates the transformation of the thermodynamically unstable vaterite into the thermodynamically stable calcite. Although ACC is the least stable form of the six anhydrous phases of calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)), it could be, however, produced and stabilized by a variety of organisms. To better understand the formation-transformation mechanism of ACC and vaterite into calcite, ex-situ methods (i.e., scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy) were used to characterize the formation-transformation process of ACC and vaterite in aqueous systems without organic additives, showing that ACC sampled at different conditions has different properties (i.e., lifetime, morphology, and spectrum characterization). It is also very interesting to capture the obviously polycrystalline particles of CaCO(3) during the transformation process from vaterite to calcite, which suggests the formation mechanism for the calcite superstructure with multidimensional morphology.
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China. qshen@sdu.edu.cn
Qiang
Q
Shen
Hao
H
Wei
Yong
Y
Zhou
Yaping
Y
Huang
Hengrui
H
Yang
Dujin
D
Wang
Duanfu
D
Xu
D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry*; D002122:Calcium Chloride / Q000737:chemistry; D002254:Carbonates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002627:Chemistry, Physical / Q000379:methods*; D003460:Crystallization; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
D002254:Carbonates; D014867:Water; C005686:sodium carbonate; D002119:Calcium Carbonate; D002122:Calcium Chloride