During the past decade the study of tubular precipitation structures from a class of chemical reactions known as chemical gardens has created the field of <i>chemobrionics</i>. Chemical gardens are defined as plant-like tubular structures which form when water soluble metal salt crystals make contact with solutions of silicate or other anions. A simple experimental set-up involves replacing the metal salt crystal with a metal salt solution as the reactant. Accordingly, we prepare gadolinium-silica precipitation structures upon the hydrodynamic injection of gadolinium nitrate into a large volume of sodium silicate solution carried out in the upward direction. This experimental methodology is highly reproducible which allows for the formation of single tubes having measurable radii at predetermined flow rates. The data analyzed from our experiments reveal a power law dependence between vertical growth rate and the selected flow rate. The walls of the resulting tubular structures have a typical width of 90 μm and are gradient materials. We examine the structural features and chemical composition of post-synthesized precipitation tubes using SEM-EDS. Lastly, the results from FT-IR and thermal analyses are presented.

Synthesis and characterization of gadolinium-silica precipitation tubes

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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