Nano-solids in manganese nodules from northern part of Pacific Ocean floor-—— Nano-solids in minerals and prospects of its uses in industry

摘要

The study of the crystal structure and particle size of manganese nodules from the northern part of the Central Pacific Ocean floor indicates that besides the phases of todorokite, birnessite and 5-MnO with the crystallite size at the micron scale, there are many other multi-phase solids having particle Size at the nanometer scale. The chemical analysis, TEM study, Mb'ssbauer spectroscopy and differential thermal analysis show that they are mainly ferri-hydroxides with the short-range ordered structure similar to that of goethite and lepidocrocite. The small-angle X-ray scattering measurements indicate that the peak position of the particle size distribution is at 5—10 nm, hence the existence of nano-solids in minerals is confirmed.