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Nacre-like calcium carbonate controlled by ionic liquid/graphene oxide composite template

Published Date

1 June 2015, Vol.51:274–278, doi:10.1016/j.msec.2015.02.009

Title

Nacre-like calcium carbonate controlled by ionic liquid/graphene oxide composite template

Author

Chengli Yao^a,b

Anjian Xie^a,^,

Yuhua Shen^a

Jinmiao Zhu^b

Hongying Li^b

aSchool of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui 230039, PR China
bSchool of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei Normal University, Hefei, Anhui 230601, PR China

Received 5 September 2014. Revised 1 February 2015. Accepted 9 February 2015. Available online 10 February 2015.

Highlights

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Nacre-like CaCO₃/GO were prepared by gas diffusion.
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Ionic liquid/GO served as composite templates.
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The interaction of Ca^{2 +} ions and GO played a very important role in the formation of nacre-like CaCO₃.

Abstract

Nacre-like calcium carbonate nanostructures have been mediated by an ionic liquid (IL)-graphene oxide (GO) composite template. The resultant crystals were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD). The results showed that either 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]BF₄) or graphene oxide can act as a soft template for calcium carbonate formation with unusual morphologies. Based on the time-dependent morphology changes of calcium carbonate particles, it is concluded that nacre-like calcium carbonate nanostructures can be formed gradually utilizing [BMIM]BF₄/GO composite template. During the process of calcium carbonate formation, [BMIM]BF₄ acted not only as solvents but also as morphology templates for the fabrication of calcium carbonate materials with nacre-like morphology. Based on the observations, the possible mechanisms were also discussed.