شهریار عصفوری

Nowadays, nanoparticles have obtained enormous attention due to their extensive technological applications. Nano calcium carbonate synthesis has found many industrial and medical applications. Cuttlefish (Sepia Pharaonis) are marine animals of the order Sepiida which belong to the class Cephalopoda and are commonly found in Persian Gulf. This species possess an internal structure called the cuttlebone, which is mostly composed of calcium carbonate and chitin. So, it can be used as a natural resource for synthesis of nano calcium carbonate. In this study, ball milling method was applied for CaCO3 nanoparticle synthesis from cuttlebone powder (Sepia Pharaonis) and then the results were compared with dissolution of starting powder in aqueous solvent contained Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) surfactant. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize nanoparticles. Experimental results showed that the aragonite particle size after 2 and 4 hours of gridding of starting powder was reached to 44 and 9 nm respectively, which indicates the direct effect of the milling time on reducing particle size. Also, dissolution of starting powder in aqueous solvent contained surfactant indicates that aragonite nanopaticles of 40 nm in diameter were formed. The capability of cuttlebone nanopowder production from Sepia Pharaonis by such a simple, cheap and fast technique suggests that it can be used in industry for the large scale synthesis of biocompatible nanoparticles