Facile synthesis and characterization of hydrophobic vaterite CaCO3 with novel spike-like morphology via a solution route

Hydrophobic spike-like vaterite CaCO3 composed of nanoparticles with an average size of 100 nm has been successfully synthesized via a simple synthetic method. The crystallization of vaterite CaCO3 was fabricated by the reaction of CaCl2 with Na2CO3 in ethanol–water solvents in the presence of oleic acid. The as-prepared products were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and contact angle analysis. The characterization results revealed that oleic acid played an important role in determining the phase and morphology of the sample. In addition, the surface properties of the vaterite CaCO3 changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. The contact angle of the modified CaCO3 reached 95.8°.