| Abstract: | Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) was used as an organic template to synthesize calcium carbonate. Crystals were synthesized in HPMC solution and HPMC hydrogel, respectively. For the mineralization system of HPMC solution, the effects of adding HPMC and rotating the reaction system on the crystal polymorph and morphology of CaCO3 were investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that the presence of HPMC induced the formation of aragonite. And its content became higher when the concentration of solution increased or when rotating the system with the presence of HPMC. Moreover, it can be seen from SEM that bundle-like CaCO3 appeared and became more with the increase of concentration. The structure and shape of the crystal had close relationship with the condition of mineralization. On the other hand, for the first time, CaCO3 was synthesized in HPMC gel, SEM results indicated that a special structure, a long bar with some slight slots at intervals on the surface, of the crystals which may be caused by the network structure of the gel was found. Thermogravimetry (TG) results showed that CaCO3 crystal products contained some HPMC. Further research on how the gel network modulates the growth of crystals is left to be done in the future. |
