Electronic response of aluminum-bearing minerals

Efficient Intermolecular Energy Exchange and Soft Ionization of Water at Nanoplatelet Interfaces

X-ray, energetic photon, and electron irradiation can ionize and electronically excite target atoms and molecules. These excitations undergo complicated relaxation and energy-transfer processes that ultimately determine the manifold system responses to the deposited excess energy. In weakly bound gas- and solution-phase samples, intermolecular Coulomb decay (ICD) and electron-transfer-mediated decay (ETMD) can occur with neighboring atoms or molecules, leading to efficient transfer of the excess energy to the surroundings. In ionic solids such as metal oxides, intra- and interatomic Auger decay produces localized final states that lead to lattice damage and typically the removal of cations from the substrate. The relative importance of Auger-stimulated damage (ASD) versus ICD and ETMD in microsolvated nanoparticle interfaces is not known. Though ASD is generally expected, essentially no lattice damage resulting from the ionization and electronic excitation of microsolvated boehmite (AlOOH) nanoplatelets has been detected. Rather efficient energy transfer and soft ionization of interfacial water molecules has been observed. This is likely a general phenomenon at gas-oxyhydroxide nanoparticle interfaces where the density of states of the ionized chemisorbed species significantly overlaps with the core hole states of the solid.

Two-step route to size and shape controlled gibbsite nanoplates and the crystal growth mechanism

Size and shape-controlled synthesis of gibbsite nanoplates via an additive-free two-step route.

Cr(III) Adsorption by Cluster Formation on Boehmite Nanoplates in Highly Alkaline Solution

The development of advanced functional nanomaterials for selective adsorption in complex chemical environments requires partner studies of binding mechanisms. Motivated by observations of selective Cr(III) adsorption on boehmite nanoplates (γ-AlOOH) in highly caustic multicomponent solutions of nuclear tank waste, here we unravel the adsorption mechanism in molecular detail. We examined Cr(III) adsorption to synthetic boehmite nanoplates in sodium hydroxide solutions up to 3 M, using a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), high-resolution atomic force microscopy (HR-AFM), time-of-fight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), Cr K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES)/extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Adsorption isotherms and kinetics were successfully fit to Langmuir and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, respectively, consistent with monotonic uptake of Cr(OH)₄^- monomers until saturation coverage of approximately half the aluminum surface site density. High resolution AFM revealed monolayer cluster self-assembly on the (010) basal surfaces with increasing Cr(III) loading, possessing a structural motif similar to guyanaite (β-CrOOH), stabilized by corner-sharing Cr-O-Cr bonds and attached to the surface with edge-sharing Cr-O-Al bonds. The selective uptake appears related to short-range surface templating effects, with bridging metal connections likely enabled by hydroxyl anion ligand exchange reactions at the surface. Such a cluster formation mechanism, which stops short of more laterally extensive heteroepitaxy, could be a metal uptake discrimination mechanism more prevalent than currently recognized.