Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T20:32:07.526Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microstructures in the Formation of Chemical Gardens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

C. Ignacio Sainz-Diaz ,
Bruno Escribano  and
Julyan Cartwright
C. Ignacio Sainz-Diaz
Affiliation:
cisainz@ugr.es, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Av. Fuentenueva s/n, Granada, 18002, Spain, +34-958181644, +34-958181632
Bruno Escribano
Affiliation:
bruno@eez.csic.es, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Av. Fuentenueva s/n, Granada, 18002, Spain
Julyan Cartwright
Affiliation:
julyan@eez.csic.es, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, Av. Fuentenueva s/n, Granada, 18002, Spain
Get access

Abstract

Chemical gardens are biomimetic structures in the form of plants formed by a combination of salts which precipitate by a combination of convection forced by osmosis, free convection and chemical reactions. Chemical gardens may be implicated in other phenomena of industrial interest which involve precipitation across a colloidal gel membrane which separates two different aqueous solutions, for example, in cement technology and metal corrosion process. However, the variation in chemical composition, morphology and mechanical properties of the different surfaces of these formations is not well known yet. Several salts in different concentrations and conditions have been explored under terrestrial gravity and microgravity. The chemical garden structures have been characterised by morphology analysis, scanning electron microscopy, chemical analysis and x-ray diffraction, correlating these data with the biomimetic growth and the physical-chemical nanoprocesses involved in it. This approach can also be useful for the analysis of biomaterials with interesting biomechanical properties.

Keywords

crystal growthbiomimetic (chemical reaction)microstructure
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1097: Symposium GG – Mechanical Behavior of Biological Materials and Biomaterials , 2008 , 1097-GG07-08
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

i Hazlehurst, T., J. Chem. Edu. 18, 286–289, (1941)Google Scholar
ii Double, D. D.. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. A, 310:55–63, 1983 Google Scholar
iii Fontana, M. G.. Corrosion Engineering. McGraw-Hill, 3rd ed, 1986 Google Scholar
iv Russell, M. J., Hall, A. J.. J. Geol. Soc. Lond., 154:377–402, 1997 Google Scholar
v Cartwright, J. H. E., García-Ruiz, J. M., Novella, M. L., Otálora, F.. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 256, 351–359, 2002.Google Scholar
vi Collins, C., Mann, G., Hoppe, E., Duggal, T., Barr, T. L., J. Klinowski. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.,1:3685–3687, (1999).Google Scholar
vii Jones, D. E. H., Walter, U. (1997) J. Colloid Interface Sci. 203, 286–293.Google Scholar
viii Leduc, S.. The Mechanism of Life. Rebman, London, 1911.Google Scholar
ix Herrera, A. L.. Boletín de la Dirección de Estudios Biológicos, México, vol. 1.2. 1916–1917.Google Scholar
x Coatman, R. D., Thomas, N. L., and Double, D. D.. Studies of the growth of .silicate gardens. and related phenomena. J. Mater. Sci., 15:2017–2026, 1980.Google Scholar
xi Collins, C., Zhou, W., Mackay, A. L., and Klinowski, J.. The ‘silica garden’: A hierarchical nanostructure. Chem. Phys.Lett., 286:88–92, 1998.Google Scholar
xii Collins, C., Zhou, W., and Klinowski, J.. A unique structure of Cu2(OH)3 NH3 crystals in the ‘silica garden’. and their degradation under electron beam irradiation. Chem. Phys. Lett., 306:145–148, 1999.Google Scholar
xiii Zeleny, M., Klir, J., and Hufford, K. D.. Precipitation membranes, osmotic growths and synthetic biology. In Langton, C., editor, Artificial Life, SFI Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, pages 125–139. Addison-Wesley, 1988.Google Scholar
xiv Rodriguez-Navarro, A. B.. XRD2DScan a new software for polycrystalline materials characterization using two-dimensional X-ray diffraction. Journal of Applied Crystallography 39, 905–909 (2006).Google Scholar
xv Martin, J.D. http://www.XPowder.com/index.html(2004).Google Scholar