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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Calcium Carbonate Formation in the Presence of Biopolymeric Additives
Published on: May 14, 2019
Molecular dynamics study of the solvation of calcium carbonate in water
Fabien Bruneval1, Davide Donadio, Michele Parrinello
1Computational Science, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, c/o USI Campus, Via Giuseppe Buffi 13, CH-6900 Lugano, Switzerland.
Abstract:
We performed molecular dynamics simulations of diluted solutions of calcium carbonate in water. To this end, we combined and tested previous polarizable models. The carbonate anion forms long-living hydrogen bonds with water and shows an amphiphilic character, in which the water molecules are expelled in a region close to its C(3) symmetry axis. The calcium cation forms a strongly bound ion pair with the carbonate. The first hydration shell around the CaCO(3) pair is found to be very similar to the location of the water molecules surrounding CaCO(3) in ikaite, the hydrated mineral.
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