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

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.

Preparation of basic magnesium carbonate and its thermal decomposition kinetics in air

The thermal decomposition process of basic magnesium carbonate was investigated. Firstly, Basic magnesium carbonate was prepared from magnesite, and the characteristics of the product were detected by X-ray diffraction （XRD） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Subsequently, the thermal decomposition process of basic magnesium carbonate in air was studied by thermogravimetry-differential thermogravimetry （TG-DTG）. The results of XRD confirm that the chemical composition of basic magnesium carbonate is 4MgCO3·Mg（OH）2·4H2O. And the SEM images show that the sample is in sheet structure, with a diameter of 0.1-1 μm. The TG-DTG results demonstrate that there are two steps in the thermal decomposition process of basic magnesium carbonate. The apparent activation energies （E） were calculated by Flyrm-Wall-Ozawa method. It is obtained from Coats-Redfem＇s equation and Malek method that the mechanism functions of the two decomposition stages are D3 and A1.5, respectively. And then, the kinetic equations of the two steps were deduced as well.

A green route for the preparation of layered double hydroxides from basic magnesium carbonate

Layered double hydroxides(LDHs)have received extensive attention in many fields such as catalysis,environmental management and medical applications.Typically,expensive soluble metal salts are commonly used as the starting materials for the synthesis of LDHs.Here,we report a novel synthesis route for Mg/Al-LDH by using inexpensive basic magnesium carbonate as the starting material.X-ray diffraction(XRD)and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance(ssNMR)data show that LDHs with rich defects are formed rapidly at room temperature and good crystallinity can be obtained after further hydrothermal treatment.These results provide a simple,rapid and green preparation method for LDHs.

Self-assembly with varying hydrophobic centers:Synthesis of red blood cell-like basic magnesium carbonate microspheres

Basic magnesium carbonate microspheres with a red blood cell （RBC）-like appearance and diameters of ~3μm were synthesized by amphiphilic molecule-participated self-assembly under hydrothermal conditions, In the self-assembly, sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate served as a template for the formation of Mg（OH）2 spherical micelles and also as a reactant precursor that releases CO2 to react with Mg（OH）2. The growth of the microspheres is driven by the continuous generation of new hydrophobic centers because of the consumption of hydrophilic poles （--SO3-）. The surfactant-directed self-assembly can be applied to the synthesis of other carbonate or metallic oxide self-assemblies, indicating that it is a universal self-assembly method for amphiphilic molecules.