Sol-gel synthesis of nano-scale, end-member albite feldspar (NaAlSi3O8)

Feldspars are the most abundant minerals in the Earth's crust, and are also important constituents of many lunar rocks and some stony meteorites. Albite (NaAlSi3O8) makes up the sodium corner of the feld-spar ternary diagram (KAlSi3O8-NaAlSi3O8-CaAl2Si2O8) and connects the alkali-feldspar and plagioclase binary joins. Synthesis of albite, however, has long been a problem, even at high temperatures and even at high pressures when dry. In fact, most successful syntheses require the combination of high-pressure, high-temperature, and hydrothermal environments. This paper presents a sol-gel method of albite syn-thesis that requires hydrothermal processing followed by high-temperature recrystallization, but no high-pressure environments. This has the advantage of allowing synthesis of relatively large amounts of material and controlled elemental substitutions. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Automated summary

Feldspars are common minerals in the Earth's crust and synthesizing them has been a challenge, requiring high pressures, high temperatures, and hydrothermal environments. This paper introduces a method for albite synthesis that does not require high-pressure environments, allowing for controlled elemental substitutions.