Surfactant/Citrate Assisted Synthesis of Calcium Carbonate Nanostructures from Natural Calcite

Synthesis of nanostructures from naturally available and easily accessible natural minerals is a growing area of research. It would be beneficial if nanotechnology is exploited for the value addition for inadequately utilized the aforementioned minerals. Calcium carbonate nanostructures can be employed in industrial products to improve their mechanical and other functional properties. In this study, citrate ion template-based method was employed for the synthesis of precipitated calcium carbonate nanostructures from naturally occurring calcite with different morphologies and sizes. For characterization of synthesized materials, X-ray Diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Thermal Gravimetric Analysis, and Scanning Electron Microscopic analysis were used. “Grain” like structure was observed from citrate template-based method while nanoparticles synthesized using surfactant-citrate method exhibited a surface morphology which is spherical in nature. The particle size of 70–80 nm was observed from nanoparticles using surfactant/citrate method and citrate template-based synthesized nanoparticles exhibited dimensions of 90 nm × 300 nm. Owing to the simplicity and cost-effectiveness, this novel method of synthesizing calcium carbonate nanoparticles would be industrial feasible approach.