Hybrid microstructure of smectite clay gels revealed using neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering

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dc.contributor.authorShoaib, Men_AU
dc.contributor.authorKhan, Sen_AU
dc.contributor.authorWani, OBen_AU
dc.contributor.authorMata, JPen_AU
dc.contributor.authorKrzysko, AJen_AU
dc.contributor.authorKuzmenko, Ien_AU
dc.contributor.authorBluel, Men_AU
dc.contributor.authorFiddes, LFen_AU
dc.contributor.authorRoth, EWen_AU
dc.contributor.authorBobicki, ERen_AU
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-11T23:49:22Zen_AU
dc.date.available2024-01-11T23:49:22Zen_AU
dc.date.issued2023-11-07en_AU
dc.date.statistics2023-11-21en_AU
dc.description.abstractAqueous suspensions of swelling clays display a nematic sol-gel transition at very low solid concentrations. The underlying microstructure of the gel has remained a point of contention since the time of Irving Langmuir and has been a major obstacle to fully realizing the potential of clays for practical applications. Here, we comprehensively probe the microstructure of a smectite clay suspension using ultra-small angle neutron/X-ray scattering and find that the nematic gel is structurally ordered and contains entities that are at least an order of magnitude larger than the individual particles. Complementary cryo-electron microscopy shows the presence of domains having particle-particle ordering responsible for nematic texture and regions of particle-particle aggregation responsible for gel-like behavior. We find that the smectic clay gels have a hybrid microstructure with co-existing repulsive nematic domains and attractive disordered domains. © 2023 The Author(s). Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.en_AU
dc.description.sponsorshipMohammad Shoaib wishes to acknowledge Professor Daniel Bonn for his suggestion to use Neutron and X-ray scattering to probe the microstructure and Erwan Paineau for answering several questions related to the sample preparation. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. USANS experiments were performed on Kookaburra instrument at Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (ACNS), ANSTO under the proposal number P8865. Also, we would like to thank Ben Storer for his help with USANS experiment. This work made use of the BioCryo facility of Northwestern University’s NUANCE Center, which has received support from the SHyNE Resource (NSF ECCS-2025633), the IIN, and Northwestern’s MRSEC program (NSF DMR-2308691).en_AU
dc.identifier.articlenumber93en_AU
dc.identifier.citationShoaib, M., Khan, S., Wani, O. B., Mata, J., Krzysko, A. J., Kuzmenko, I., Bluel, M., Fiddes, L. F., Roth, E. W., & Bobicki, E. R. (2023). Hybrid microstructure of smectite clay gels revealed using neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering. Communications Materials, 4(1), 93. doi:10.1038/s43246-023-00414-yen_AU
dc.identifier.issn2662-4443en_AU
dc.identifier.issue1en_AU
dc.identifier.journaltitleCommunications Materialsen_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://apo.ansto.gov.au/handle/10238/15332en_AU
dc.identifier.volume4en_AU
dc.language.isoenen_AU
dc.publisherSpringer Natureen_AU
dc.relation.urihttps://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-023-00414-yen_AU
dc.subjectColloidsen_AU
dc.subjectLiquid crystalsen_AU
dc.subjectMaterialsen_AU
dc.subjectMicrostructureen_AU
dc.subjectSmectiteen_AU
dc.subjectClaysen_AU
dc.subjectGelsen_AU
dc.subjectNeutron diffractionen_AU
dc.subjectSynchrotronsen_AU
dc.subjectX-ray diffractionen_AU
dc.titleHybrid microstructure of smectite clay gels revealed using neutron and synchrotron X-ray scatteringen_AU
dc.typeJournal Articleen_AU
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