17–19 Oct 2018
Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati INFN
Europe/Rome timezone

Metal elemental organizations in natural Sphalerite : an X-ray absorption microscopy study

19 Oct 2018, 13:00
30m
Aula Salvini (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati INFN)

Aula Salvini

Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati INFN

Via E. Fermi 40 00044 Frascati (RM)

Speaker

Dr Carlo Marini (ALBA CELLS)

Description

Sphalerite is one of the most common natural zinc sulfide (ZnS) mineral commonly present at Santander, Spain. Here we present X-ray absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy and X-ray element distribution mapping aimed to characterize the inhomogeneous (zonal) distribution of Cu, Ni, Co, and Fe atoms and its effect on the Zn local environment in sphalerite. A linear combination fit of XANES spectra collected in several representative points of a natural mineral surface is employed to obtain the spatial distribution of the Zn containing mineral species. Apart from the majority ZnS fraction, Zn has been found as smithsonite (ZnCO3) and zincite (ZnO) stochiometries. Zn K-edge EXAFS analysis reveal that the presence of smithsonite impurities lead to structural order and shrinking of the Zinc local environment, while zincite contamination increases the level of structural disorder in the zinc local geometry.

Primary author

Dr Carlo Marini (ALBA CELLS)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.