Study on thermal properties of nanocrystalline strontianite

Nanocrystalline strontianite (nano-SrCO3) was synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method. The crystal phase and grain size analyses were performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The thermal properties of nano-strontianite and reference strontianite were investigated using the thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and high-temperature XRD. The results of TG and DTA revealed that the phase transition and decomposition temperatures of nano-SrCO3 were lower than those of the reference SrCO3. It was also observed that the high-temperature XRD result was in accordance with the TG/DTA measurement. This phenomenon was mainly attributed to the high surface energy of nanomaterials, in which a large number of dangling bonds were present. Consequently, a lower temperature (energy) was sufficient for the phase transition or decomposition of nano-SrCO3.