Microemulsion-mediated solvothermal synthesis of SrCO₃ nanostructures

The controlled synthesis of SrCO₃ nanostructures with different morphologies, such as rodlike, whiskerlike, ellipsoidlike, and spherelike, were successfully achieved by the cationic surfactant-CTAB-microemulsion-mediated solvothermal method. Various comparison experiments showed that fundamental experimental parameters, such as the molar ratio of H₂O to CTAB and the concentration of reactants, played important roles in the morphological control of SrCO₃ nanostructures. A lower molar ratio of H ₂O to CTAB favors rodlike products, whereas a higher molar ratio generally leads to the formation of spherical products. A rational mechanism based on fusion, aggregate, and coalescence of microemulsion droplets is proposed for the selective formation of various morphologies. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) were used to characterize the products.