Controlled Synthesis of Calcium Sulfate and Calcium Vanadate Nanostructures

Calcium sulfate and calcium vanadate nanostructures have been synthesized by a hydrothermal route using calcium sulfate and sodium vanadate as the raw materials. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. XRD and SEM observation show that the products are composed of calcium sulfate nanosheets with orhorhombic CaSO4 phase and calcium vanadate nanorods with tetragonal CaV4O9 phase. The size and morphology of the products can be adjusted by controlling the hydrothermal conditions and raw materials. The size of calcium sulfate nanosheets and calcium vanadate nanorods increases obviously with increasing the hydrothermal temperature and reaction time. The formation process of the calcium sulfate and calcium vanadate nanostructures is also discussed. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2012.585]