Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 20 No 2 (2016): 423 - 435

 

 

 

CHARACTERIZATION OF CaCO₃ MICROSPHERES FABRICATED USING DISTILLED WATER 

 

(Pencirian CaCO₃ Mikrosfera Difabrikasi Menggunakan Air Suling)

 

Intan Nabila Sabri¹, Nadiawati Alias², Abdul Manaf Ali², Javeed Shaikh Mohammed¹*

 

¹Faculty of Innovative Design and Technology,

Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Gong Badak Campus, 21300 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

²Faculty of Bioresources and Food Industry,

Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Besut Campus, 22200 Tembila, Terengganu, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: javeedsm@unisza.edu.my

 

 

Received: 14 April 2015; Accepted: 30 November 2015

 

 

Abstract

Calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) microspheres (μ-spheres) are widely used as inorganic templates (or cores) for fabricating nano-engineered microcapsules. Deionized water is commonly used in the fabrication of CaCO₃ μ-spheres using precipitation reaction between calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃) solutions under vigorous stirring. However, in the current work distilled water was used throughout the experiments. Furthermore, two simple fabrication approaches, namely membrane filtration and centrifugation approaches, were used in order to understand the effect of different experimental factors on the size and shape of CaCO₃ μ-spheres. For the membrane filtration approach, the experimental factors tested included mixing procedure of solutions, stirring speeds, drying techniques, and types of filter paper used. For the centrifugation approach, the experimental factors tested included mixing procedure of solutions, stirring speeds, centrifugation times, drying techniques, and quantity of washing agents used. The size measurements and shape of the CaCO₃ μ-spheres were investigated using compound microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the fine surface morphological details of the CaCO₃ μ-spheres. Overall results indicate that the centrifugation approach can yield better CaCO₃ μ-spheres as compared to the membrane filtration approach in terms of narrow size distribution and uniform spherical shape. The fabricated CaCO₃ μ-spheres can be used as inorganic templates for fabricating nano-engineered microcapsules.

 

Keywords: CaCO₃ microspheres, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), compound microscopy

 

Abstrak

Kalsium karbonat (CaCO₃) mikrosfera (µ-sfera) digunakan secara meluas sebagai templat bukan organik (atau teras) untuk memfabrikasi mikrokapsul nano-kejuruteraan. Air ternyahion lazim digunakan dalam fabrikasi CaCO₃ µ-sfera dengan menggunakan tindak balas pemendakan antara larutan kalsium klorida (CaCl₂) dan natrium karbonat (Na₂CO₃) dengan pengacauan yang laju. Namun begitu, dalam kerja-kerja semasa air suling telah digunakan sepanjang eksperimen. Dua teknik fabrikasi yang ringkas, iaitu teknik penapisan membran dan pengemparan telah digunakan untuk memahami kesan faktor eksperimen yang berbeza terhadap saiz dan bentuk CaCO₃ μ-sfera. Bagi teknik penapisan membran, faktor – faktor eksperimen yang diuji termasuk prosedur pencampuran larutan, kelajuan pengacauan, teknik pengeringan, dan jenis kertas penapis yang digunakan. Bagi teknik pegemparan, faktor – faktor eksperimen yang diuji pula termasuk prosedur pencampuran larutan, kelajuan pengacauan, masa pengemparan, teknik pengeringan, dan kuantiti agen pembasuhan yang digunakan. Ukuran saiz dan bentuk CaCO₃ μ-sfera telah dikaji dengan menggunakan mikroskopi sebatian. Mikroskopi elektron pengimbasan (SEM) digunakan untuk meneliti morfologi permukaan halus CaCO₃ μ-sfera. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa teknik pengemparan mampu menghasilkan CaCO₃ μ-sfera lebih baik berbanding teknik penapisan membran dari segi taburan saiz yang kecil dan berbentuk sfera yang seragam. Rekaan CaCO₃ μ-sfera boleh digunakan sebagai templat bukan organik untuk fabrikasi mikrokapsul nano-kejuruteraan.

 

Kata kunci: CaCO₃ microsfera, mikroskop elektron pengimbasan (SEM), mikroskopi sebatian

 

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