Simulations on "Piz Daint" explain surprising mineral behaviour
Evolution of the unit-cell volume of Pb-stellerite as a function of temperature obtained by single crystal X-ray diffraction and corresponding structural transformation in the framework observed by in situ measurements and atomistic simulations. (Image: University of Bern, Georgia Cametti & Sergey Churakov)
Zeolites are a class of shapely, colourful minerals with very special properties, making them omnipresent in our surroundings. They accelerate chemical reactions, absorb hazardous contaminants and water to a high degree, for example. Their only limitation is that they usually lose their peculiar crystalline structure at high temperatures. Now researchers at the University of Bern have found an unexpected exception.
Read more: https://www.cscs.ch/science/chemistry-materials/2023/simulations-on-piz…