High-efficiency mechanochemical synthesis of Strontium carbonate nanopowder from Celestite

In this study, the conversion of Celestite to SrCO₃ was studied by wet mechanochemical synthesis in a high-energy ball mill and treatment with Na₂CO₃. For this purpose, solid strontium carbonate and soluble Na₂SO₄ were obtained after wet milling of Celestite powder and sodium carbonate. The solid phase was washed with water at room temperature by filter pressing. X-Ray diffraction patterns showed that the SrCO₃ nanopowder was synthesized and conversion boosted with increasing the milling time up to 8 hours Also, Rietveld refinement analysis was used to calculate the fraction of SrCO₃ as well as structural properties of synthesized samples. It was found that initial Celestite could be converted to strontium carbonate with a purity more than 98% using high-energy milling without simultaneous heating. The optimum milling time was determined as 4 hours resulting in formation of nanopowders with an average particle size around 90 nm. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), clearly showed the nanoscale structure of the synthesized powders.