Crystallization of monohydrocalcite in silicarich alkaline solution at different temperatures

Abstract

The so-called “biomorphs” are a fascinating and beautiful group of polycrystalline, self-assembled silicaalkaline carbonate composite materials, which are usually obtained by crystallization process of carbonates with the presence of silica in alkaline environments. They are characterized by the hierarchy of their structures in addition to complex and curved morphologies which resemble the morphologies of crystallization under the control of living organisms. The first work related to biomorphs was reported in the 1980s, in which barium carbonate was slowly crystallized in alkaline silica gel by counterdiffusion method and biomorphic barium carbonate with noncrystallographic twisted ribbon was formed (Garcia-Ruiz, 1985)