One of nature's puzzles is assembled: analog of the Earth's most complex mineral, ewingite, synthesized in a laboratory

0561902 - FZÚ 2023 RIV CH eng J - Journal Article
Tyumentseva, O.S. - Kornyakov, I.V. - Kasatkin, A.V. - Plášil, Jakub - Krzhizhanovskaya, M.G. - Krivovichev, S.V. - Burns, P.C. - Gurzhiy, V.V.
One of nature's puzzles is assembled: analog of the Earth's most complex mineral, ewingite, synthesized in a laboratory.
Materials. Roč. 15, č. 19 (2022), č. článku 6643. E-ISSN 1996-1944
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA20-11949S
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : uranyl * carbonate * ewingite * mineral * nanocluster * topology * crystal structure * structural complexity * X-ray diffraction
OECD category: Mineralogy
Impact factor: 3.4, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access

Through the combination of low-temperature hydrothermal synthesis and room-temperature evaporation, a synthetic phase similar in composition and crystal structure to the Earth's most complex mineral, ewingite, was obtained. The crystal structures of both natural and synthetic compounds are based on supertetrahedral uranyl-carbonate nanoclusters that are arranged according to the cubic body-centered lattice principle. The structure and composition of the uranyl carbonate nanocluster were refined using the data on synthetic material. Although the stability of natural ewingite is higher (according to visual observation and experimental studies), the synthetic phase can be regarded as a primary and/or metastable reaction product which further re-crystallizes into a more stable form under environmental conditions.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0334330