Preparation and growth mechanism of plate-like basic magnesium carbonate by template-mediated/homogeneous precipitation method

Abstract

In order to expand the application of the basic magnesium carbonate in the field of flame retardant, the plate-like basic magnesium carbonate (Mg₅(CO₃)₄(OH)₂.4H₂O) was prepared successfully by template-mediated/ homogeneous precipitation method, using magnesium chloride hexahydrate (MgCl₂.6H₂O) and urea (CO(NH₂)₂) as reaction materials. Phase and morphology of the product were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively. The results showed that well-crystallized plate-like Mg₅(CO₃)₄(OH)₂.4H₂O can be prepared at the water bath temperature of 100 °C, water bath time of 24 h, the aging time of 5 h after adding organic template agent. The investigation on organic template mediated mechanism shows that the template affects the crystal morphology by changing surface energy of different crystal plane. Through a preliminary study on the growth mechanism of the product, it is found that the generation of the plate-like Mg₅(CO₃)₄(OH)₂.4H₂O could be explained by two-dimensional nucleation/step growth mechanism.

Keywords

plate-like / basic magnesium carbonate / template-mediated/homogeneous precipitation / two-dimensional nucleation / step growth

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