PAA-assisted synthesis of CaCO3 microcrystals and affecting factors under microwave irradiation

In the present paper, we described a polyacrylic acid (PAA)-assisted microwave irradiation route for synthesis of Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) microcrystals. CaCl2·2H2O and NaHCO3 were used as the starting reactants. Researches showed that the presence of PAA could strongly affect the phase and morphology of CaCO3 crystals. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analyses showed that the product prepared from the system with/without PAA corresponded to Vaterite/Calcite, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations showed that the hierarchical CaCO3 microcrystals were obtained in the presence of PAA. Some factors influencing the morphology of the as-synthesized CaCO3 crystals were systematically investigated.