Water Is the Key to Nonclassical Nucleation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a ubiquitous mineral that represents one of the most significant biominerals,a major contributor to carbon sequestration through geological deposits, and a technological hindrance as a result of scale formation. Amorphous calcium carbonate is intimately involved in the nucleatio...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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The American Chemical Society
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46049 |
| _version_ | 1848757452866060288 |
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| author | Raiteri, Paolo Gale, Julian |
| author_facet | Raiteri, Paolo Gale, Julian |
| author_sort | Raiteri, Paolo |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Calcium carbonate is a ubiquitous mineral that represents one of the most significant biominerals,a major contributor to carbon sequestration through geological deposits, and a technological hindrance as a result of scale formation. Amorphous calcium carbonate is intimately involved in the nucleation and growth of this material, yet much remains undiscovered regarding the atomic detail. Through dynamical simulation we demonstrate that nucleation of amorphous calcium carbonate follows a nonclassical pathway. This arises from the addition of ion pairs to clusters exhibiting a consistently exothermic free energy that persists with increasing particle size. Furthermore, the disruption of the surrounding water of solvation by the atomically rough surface reduces the barrier to growth to the order of ambient thermal energy, thereby allowing the amorphous phase to grow faster than crystalline polymorphs. Amorphous calcium carbonate nanoparticles are also found to exploit size-dependent water content to render itself more stable than the favored bulk phase, calcite, below a critical diameter of close to 4 nm. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:28:20Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-46049 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:28:20Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | The American Chemical Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-460492017-09-13T15:51:04Z Water Is the Key to Nonclassical Nucleation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Raiteri, Paolo Gale, Julian Calcium carbonate is a ubiquitous mineral that represents one of the most significant biominerals,a major contributor to carbon sequestration through geological deposits, and a technological hindrance as a result of scale formation. Amorphous calcium carbonate is intimately involved in the nucleation and growth of this material, yet much remains undiscovered regarding the atomic detail. Through dynamical simulation we demonstrate that nucleation of amorphous calcium carbonate follows a nonclassical pathway. This arises from the addition of ion pairs to clusters exhibiting a consistently exothermic free energy that persists with increasing particle size. Furthermore, the disruption of the surrounding water of solvation by the atomically rough surface reduces the barrier to growth to the order of ambient thermal energy, thereby allowing the amorphous phase to grow faster than crystalline polymorphs. Amorphous calcium carbonate nanoparticles are also found to exploit size-dependent water content to render itself more stable than the favored bulk phase, calcite, below a critical diameter of close to 4 nm. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46049 10.1021/ja108508k The American Chemical Society restricted |
| spellingShingle | Raiteri, Paolo Gale, Julian Water Is the Key to Nonclassical Nucleation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate |
| title | Water Is the Key to Nonclassical Nucleation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate |
| title_full | Water Is the Key to Nonclassical Nucleation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate |
| title_fullStr | Water Is the Key to Nonclassical Nucleation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate |
| title_full_unstemmed | Water Is the Key to Nonclassical Nucleation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate |
| title_short | Water Is the Key to Nonclassical Nucleation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate |
| title_sort | water is the key to nonclassical nucleation of amorphous calcium carbonate |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/46049 |