Nanosized vaterite production through organic-solvent-free indirect carbonation

Sehun Kim; Kadamkotte Puthanveettil Remya; Myoung-Jin Kim

doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2023.106495

Nanosized vaterite production through organic-solvent-free indirect carbonation

Ultrason Sonochem. 2023 Aug:98:106495. doi: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2023.106495. Epub 2023 Jun 17.

Authors

Sehun Kim¹, Kadamkotte Puthanveettil Remya², Myoung-Jin Kim³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan 49112, South Korea; Interdisciplinary Major of Ocean Renewable Energy Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan 49112, South Korea.
² Department of Environmental Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan 49112, South Korea.
³ Department of Environmental Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan 49112, South Korea; Interdisciplinary Major of Ocean Renewable Energy Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan 49112, South Korea. Electronic address: kimmj@kmou.ac.kr.

Abstract

Nanosized vaterite, which exhibits characteristics such as high specific surface area, porosity, and biocompatibility, has attracted research attention for use as a drug delivery material. However, fatal drawbacks such as high costs, difficulty in mass production, and toxicity exist in conventional nanosized vaterite production owing to the use of a large amount of organic solvents to forcibly suppress the vaterite recrystallization and particle growth. Therefore, nanosized 100 % vaterite was produced in this study via indirect carbonation without using any organic solvent, which has rarely been achieved previously. Seawater, sucrose, ultrasonication, and aging-which facilitate vaterite production and particle size reduction-exhibited a synergistic effect in producing vaterite. To realize nanosized vaterite production via indirect carbonation, seawater was used as a solvent, sucrose was added when Ca was eluted, and CO₂ bubbling was performed under ultrasonication. Furthermore, the CaCO₃-containing suspension obtained after the carbonation was aged. Ultrasonic waves were required to generate nanosized vaterite and reducing size at the carbonation stage. This nanosized-vaterite-production strategy involving organic-solvent-free indirect carbonation is meaningful, in that it highlights the potential of synthesizing vaterite in an economically sound, environmentally friendly manner for use as a pharmaceutical raw material.

Keywords: Indirect carbonation; Nanosized particles; Seawater; Ultrasound; Vaterite.