Characterization on the precipitate sample of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide adsorbed onto nanocube CaCO3 particles from aqueous-ammonia-rich solution

Physicochemical analysis on the precipitate samples of the cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) adsorbed onto nanocube CaCO3 particles (NcCP) in aqueous ammonia rich (NH4 +) solution was initially examined. The amount of CTAB added to the (<100 nm) NcCP ranging from 0.04 to 88.5 mM was prepared under room temperature aqueous alkaline condition and characterized by thermogravimetry/differential thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTA), Raman spectroscopy (RS), scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), gas chromatograph combined with mass spectrometer analysis (GC–MS), and powder X-ray diffraction pattern. RS, GC–MS, and TGA/DTA analyses indicate that only layer of CTAB molecules were present on the surface of the NcCP. Moreover, this thin sheet layer was morphologically observed by the TEM image (particularly at 88 mM concentration of CTAB). In general, adsorption of CTAB molecules onto NcCP under aqueous alkaline medium had no effect on the cubic crystal structure and particle morphology. The present study confirms the adsorption mechanism of cationic surfactant onto NcCP colloids model and contributes to the better understanding of the possible structural arrangement of the sorbed surfactant molecules onto the NcCP-aqueous alkaline interface by simple characterization method. This investigation is expected to create new, low-cost route to produce promising nanopowders and conversion to hollow particles with multi-component porous surface shell wall.