Controlled Synthesis of BaCO3 Microstructures Using Various Natural Gums - A Biomimetic Approach

Abstract

In this study, Barium carbonate microstructures assembled from nanorods are successfully synthesized at room temperature and screw capped method at 100C. The experiments show that the protocol followed for the synthesis of BaCO3 as well as the concentration of various gums used, play an important role in the size and morphology of BaCO3. Here in, we obtained witherite type nanorods aggregates with unusual morphologies via transformation of metal carbonates at different conditions using natural gums as additives. A rational mechanism based on the oriented self-assembly of BaCO3 nuclei is proposed for the formed architectures. The crystals undergo an interesting morphology changes and have been well characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. This method is simple, low-cost and environmentally friendly route for the synthesis of BaCO3 microstructures with altogether different morphologies.