Dynamics of amorphous calcium carbonate precursor

Crystallization of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is important for its crucial role in natural and industrial processes. Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) forms as metastable gel precursor of CaCO3. It is proposed to characterize the dynamics in the ACC gel obtained without the use of ‘stabilization’ methods, known to affect its structure, stability and crystallization pathway. To this aim, an X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy experiment is proposed. The time-evolution of the dynamics will be studied ‘in-situ’ thanks to the use of a microfluidic device allowing the fast mixing of the two solutions. Dynamics aspects provide useful insights into the physics behind the crystallization from amorphous, allowing to address molecular issues to help our understanding of the crystallization process of CaCO3, the ACC transformation, the effect of synthesis conditions on ACC structure, and polymorph selection when starting from salt solutions.