The activities of the Laboratory for Precipitation Processes

Precipitation is a common term for a series of physical-chemical processes, by which formation of a new phase takes place in a homogeneous system. Precipitation of sparingly soluble inorganic salts from aqueous solutions is one of operations by which considerable amounts of materials of different properties can be produced. As such this operation can satisfy the increasing demands of the rapid technological development. A principle aim of the research performed in the Laboratory for Precipitation Processes is to investigate the precipitation mechanisms of sparingly soluble biocompatible ionic salts and related materials, in order to find generic regularities that influence the physical-chemical properties of these materials and to prove that these properties depend on both, the thermodynamic and kinetic factors. Since these substances often precipitate at conditions far from equilibrium (high supersaturations), special attention is given to the role of precursor phases on the properties of final product (thermodynamically stable modifications). Another important parameter relevant for precipitation is a presence of additives (large organic molecules or polyelectrolytes) which can affect either nucleation, growth or aging of precipitate at their very low concentrations.

Equipment

Gemini 2380 (Micromeritics) for determination of specific surface area and pore size distributions

IR spectrophotometer (ATI Mattson Genesis)

UV-VIS spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer Instruments, LAMBDA 36)

Thermoanalyzer (Mettler TG 50 with a TC 11 processor)

Electronic counting device (Coulter Counter Multisizer II)

Potentiometric titration workstation (Radiometer pH meter PHM 290 with automatic burrette ABU 901)

Ion chromatography devices IC100 i IC1100 (Dionex)