Morphological Control of CaCO3 Particles by a Double-hydrophilic Block Copolymer in Mixed Alcohol-water Solvents

The crystallization of calcite from mixed alcohol-water solvents in the presence of a double-hydrophilic block copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(methacrylic acid) (PEG-b-PMAA) has been investigated. It was revealed that with increasing the volume fractions of ethanol or isopropanol, the morphology of the CaCO3 particles generally varies from peanuts through rods to spheres in the presence of the polymer. Specifically, uniform rounded calcite rods, which are about 2 ??m in length with an aspect ratio of 2.6, were obtained in the isopropanol solution with volume fraction 50%.EI0815972