Amorphous silicate nanoparticles with controlled Fe-Mg pyroxene compositions

DOI: 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2016.06.017

Authors: Stephen Thompson (Diamond Light Source) , Karine Demyk (Université de Toulouse) , Sarah Day (Diamond Light Source) , Aneurin Evans (Keele University) , Hugues Leroux (Université Lille) , Christophe Depecker (Université Lille) , Julia Parker (Diamond Light Source) , Leigh Connor (Diamond Light Source) , Heribert Wilhelm (Diamond Light Source) , Giannantonio Cibin (Diamond Light Source)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Journal Of Non-Crystalline Solids , VOL 447 , PAGES 255 - 261

State: Published (Approved)
Published: September 2016
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 8614 , 8692

Abstract: The production of amorphous pyroxene nanoparticles (~20 nm) with controlled Fe-Mg content is described. Homogenous particle compositions closely matching required target stoichiometries are obtained by drying a precursor gel under high vacuum conditions. The silicate nature of the particles is characterised using TEM, synchrotron radiation and FTIR. No oxide phase separation occurs, even at high Fe concentration. Structural domains exist within the nanoparticles that are typically ten times smaller than the physical particle size consistent with either a core-shell, or, random network with multiple embedded domains, particle structure. Thermal annealing below the crystallisation temperature allows the ordered domain size to be further reduced by a factor of ~2.

Journal Keywords: Iron and magnesium silicates; nanoparticles; Sol-gel; Amorphous material

Subject Areas: Materials, Chemistry, Earth Science

Diamond Offline Facilities: I11 support Lab
Instruments: B18-Core EXAFS , I11-High Resolution Powder Diffraction , I15-Extreme Conditions

Added On: 23/06/2016 14:08

Discipline Tags:

Earth Sciences & Environment Mineralogy Materials Science Geology Nanoscience/Nanotechnology Geochemistry

Technical Tags:

Diffraction Scattering Spectroscopy X-ray Powder Diffraction Total Scattering X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS)