Early Stages of Mineral Formation in Water

From Ion Pairs to Crystals

verfasst von

Mariette Wolthers, Denis Gebauer, Raffaella Demichelis

Abstract

Minerals can precipitate from aqueous solutions via a fascinating variety of pathways. Classically, these pathways were thought to be initiated by a single-step nucleation mechanism. Over the past two decades, several investigations revealed that minerals can form through multi-step processes, from dissolved single ions to the final stable crystal. Depending on the mineral system under investigation and its environment, alternative mechanisms are possible, including ion-by-ion aggregation and agglomeration of clusters of ions. Intermediate species can be intriguingly variable: from ion pairs and ion clusters, to dense liquids, amorphous phases, meso- and (charged) nanocrystals. Here we provide a summarized overview of our current knowledge about processes taking place during the prenucleation stage.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Anorganische Chemie

Externe Organisation(en)

Utrecht University
Curtin University

Typ

Artikel

Journal

ELEMENTS

Band

21

Seiten

18-24

Anzahl der Seiten

7

ISSN

1811-5209

Publikationsdatum

02.2025

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Geochemie und Petrologie, Erdkunde und Planetologie (sonstige)

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.21.1.18 (Zugang: Geschlossen)