Large-Scale Growth of Tubular Aragonite Whiskers through a MgCl₂-Assisted Hydrothermal Process

Minyan Ren; Changyin Dong; Changhua An

doi:10.3390/ma4081375

Large-Scale Growth of Tubular Aragonite Whiskers through a MgCl₂-Assisted Hydrothermal Process

Materials (Basel). 2011 Aug 8;4(8):1375-1383. doi: 10.3390/ma4081375.

Authors

Minyan Ren¹, Changyin Dong², Changhua An³

Affiliations

¹ School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong 266555, China. anchh17@gmail.com.
² School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong 266555, China. dongcy@upc.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and College of Science, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong 266555, China. anchh@upc.edu.cn.

Abstract

In this paper, we have developed a facile MgCl₂-assissted hydrothermal synthesis route to grow tubular aragonite whiskers on a large scale. The products have been characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy, and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The results show the as-grown product is pure tubular aragonite crystalline whiskers with a diameter of 5-10 mm and a length of 100-200 mm, respectively. The concentration of Mg²⁺ plays an important role in determining the quality and purity of the products. Furthermore, the method can be extended to fabricate CaSO₄ fibers. The high quality of the product and the mild conditions used mean that the present route has good prospects for the growth of inorganic crystalline whiskers.

Keywords: CaCO3; crystal morphology; growth from solutions; whiskers.