Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2015, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (1): 189-198.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201411031

• PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS • Previous Articles    

Epitaxial Growth of Single-Crystalline Barium Carbonate Microcone Arrays on (104) Face of Calcite

WU Wei-Ke1,2, ZHANG Yu-Zhe2, LI Bin1, MA Yu-Rong2   

  1. 1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, P. R. China;
    2. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
  • Received:2014-08-27 Revised:2014-11-03 Published:2014-12-25
  • Contact: LI Bin, MA Yu-Rong E-mail:binli@gxu.edu.cn;yurong.ma@pku.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51272298).

Abstract:

Heteroepitaxial growth of single-crystalline witherite (BaCO3) microcone arrays on the (104) face of calcite (CaCO3) was realized, by the interface-coupled dissolution-precipitation reaction in water/ethanol at roomtemperature. The witherite microcone long axis was parallel to the [001] direction of witherite and [001] direction of the calcite substrate. The top of the microcones appeared as uniformtri-symmetrical hexagons while the long axis of the witherite microcones was parallel to the electron beam. The witherite microcones increased in size and decreased in length:diameter ratio with extending crystallization time. The size and morphology of the epitaxially grown witherite could be tuned by changing the water:ethanol volume ratio, or the Ba(NO3)2 concentration of the precursor solution. Increasing the water:ethanol volume ratio or Ba(NO3)2 concentration yielded smaller, denser witherite single-crystalline microstructures. The witherite microcone arrays were thought to form by the synergetic epitaxial growth of witherite and dissolution of calcite. Carbonate crystals of witherite and calcite contained middle-high misfits on calcite (104) and (001) faces. Witherite microcones may have grown epitaxially on these two calcite faces, according to the Volmer-Weber model.

Key words: Witherite, Calcite, Epitaxial growth, Microcone array, Mineral interface