On observation of freeze-dried smectite plane views of nanolayers

Observations were carried out on a purified and deshydrated smectite using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. They show extremely thin layers in the planar orientation (thickness of the order of a few nanometers). An important part of them is also bent with variable radii of curvature, often of the order of a few hundreds of nanometers. Some of the samples are complicated in shape, and present a succession of folds. Samples mainly grow as layers and not as a pile-up of layers. Electron energy loss spectroscopy shows that the Si/Al local ratio is of the order of 2 as expected. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.