Raman Study of Synthetic Witherite–Strontianite Solid Solutions

Abstract

Characterization of zoned crystals of a synthetic witherite–strontianite solid solution (BaxSr1-xCO3) was carried out using electron microprobe analysis and Raman spectroscopy. The sample was obtained by coprecipitation using the silica gel method. As each carbonate crystal from this preparation showed the whole range of intermediate compositions BaxSr1-xCO3, 0.1≤x≤0.9, the solid solution could be studied for single crystals. Peak-shape analysis of the Raman bands showed that the peak shifts depend on the replacement of the Ba and Sr cations introducing different radii and masses. We observed a shift to higher wave numbers for an increase of the SrCO3 content.