Biomimetic synthesis and morphological control of metal carbonates at the air/solution interface

Abstract

Biomimetic approaches can provide a means of fabricating nanostructured materials under environmentally benign conditions. In this paper, we synthesized metal carbonate films, such as calcite, strontianite, malachite, and hydrozincite films, at the air-solution interface of solutions containing corresponding metal ions by using inflowing CO2 from the atmosphere. The addition of acidic polymers, fulfilling the role of an acidic protein in biomineralization, provided CaCO3 nanofibers, SrCO3 nanofibers oriented in a specific direction, and copper carbonate and zinc carbonate hydroxide thin films. The metal carbonates prepared in this study were used as precursors for the formation of metal oxide nanocrystals via pyrolysis. This work showed that various metal carbonates and metal oxides with nanostructures can be prepared by using atmospheric CO2. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.