Microwave-Assisted Controlled Synthesis of CaCO3 with Various Biomimetic Morphologies Using Basic Additives in Polyol
CaCO3 (aragonite or calcite) with various unusual biomimetic morphologies, such as pumpkin-like, olive-like, willow-leaf-like, cauliflower-like, etc, have been successfully synthesized by one-step microwave-assisted method using CaCl2, (NH4)2CO3 or Na2CO3, basic additives (urea, hexamethylenetetramine ((CH2)6N4), ethylenediamine (C2H8N2) and NaOH), poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP)) in polyol. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, and type of basic additive on the products were investigated. The reaction temperature and type of basic additive have significant effects on the morphology of CaCO3. This method is simple, fast, low-cost and may be scaled up for large-scale production of CaCO3 with various morphologies.