Issue 6, 2011

Controlled crystallization of hierarchical and porous calcium carbonate crystals using polypeptide type block copolymer as crystal growth modifier in a mixed solution

Abstract

Various kinds of nearly spherical calcium carbonate (CaCO3) crystals with hierarchical and porous structures can be prepared using poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(aspartic acid) (PEG-b-pAsp) as a crystal growth modifier in a mixed solvent composed of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and cyclohexanol. The results reveal that the porosity or specific surface area of these CaCO3 crystals can be tuned by altering the volume ratio (R) of DMF/cyclohexanol in solution, and the pore size of the obtained spherical particles can be ranged from several tens to hundreds of nanometres. Additionally, most of the obtained calcium carbonate samples can be assigned to vaterite or a mixture of calcite and vaterite, which are well crystalline and are influenced by the R value. Interestingly, unique hierarchical and porous microspheres can be prepared at polymer concentrations of ∼ 0.5 g L−1 and an R value of ∼ 1.0, respectively. It has been proposed that the formation of the specific CaCO3 crystals with hierarchical and porous structures could be ascribed to the collodial aggregation transition and self-assembly of calcium carbonate precursor in a desirable mixed solvent. This specific synthesis strategy in a mixed solvent again emphasizes that it is possible to synthesize other inorganic/organic hybrid materials with exquisite morphology and specific textures.

Graphical abstract: Controlled crystallization of hierarchical and porous calcium carbonate crystals using polypeptide type block copolymer as crystal growth modifier in a mixed solution

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 May 2010
Accepted
22 Nov 2010
First published
06 Jan 2011

CrystEngComm, 2011,13, 2054-2061

Controlled crystallization of hierarchical and porous calcium carbonate crystals using polypeptide type block copolymer as crystal growth modifier in a mixed solution

X. Guo, L. Liu, W. Wang, J. Zhang, Y. Wang and S. Yu, CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 2054 DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00202J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements