Room temperature synthesis of flower-like CaCO3 architectures

Abstract

The shape-controlled crystallization of highly ordered three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical flower-like vaterite calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) architecture was successfully prepared from a mild water–urea mixed system by a simple precipitation method. The mechanism of the crystal growth of CaCO₃ was expounded according to the results, which is a step-by-step build process. It was found that the reaction time and the concentrations of carbonate and urea turned out to be important parameters for the control of morphology and polymorph of CaCO₃. The detailed morphology and polymorph of the synthesized hierarchical CaCO₃ nanostructures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and electron diffraction (ED). This research may provide a promising route for the selective synthesis of other inorganic materials with different morphologies and polymorphs.