Physics:Laponite
Laponite is a synthetic smectite clay invented in 1962 by clay scientist Barbara Neumann. Usually produced as powder, laponite is a nanomaterial made up of very small disk-shaped crystals used in multiple industrial applications. Laponite was first marketed by the company Laporte plc and is currently produced by BYK Additives & Instruments.[1][2][3][4][5] Laponite is not an approved mineral species, since it is not naturally occurring and it is not produced by geological processes.[6]
In the first formulation of laponite created by Neumann in 1962, the synthetic clay was determined to be a fluorohectorite and was produced in the form of discs 1 nanometer thick and with a diameter of 60 to 80 nanometers. This went into mass production in 1964.[7] The mineral structure of the clay gives laponite its particular physical characteristics and is similar to the smectite group of clay minerals, with a 2:1 layered crystal structure in which two tetrahedral silica sheets lie either side of an octahedral sheet containing magnesium ions.[5] In 1966, Neumann patented a second formulation of laponite, called 'Laponite RD'. This form was free from fluorine, and has subsequently become the most widely used form of laponite.[8] This form of laponite has an empirical formula of Na
0.7[(Si
8Mg
5.5Li
0.3)O
20(OH)
4].[5] In later years, Neumann also created other variants of laponite including a lithium-free magnesium silicate clay, a form of synthetic stevensite, and an iron silicate clay, which was a synthetic form of nontronite.[7]
References
- ↑ Neumann, B.S., "Improvements in or Relating to Synthetic Clay-Like Minerals", GB patent 1054111
- ↑ Neumann, B.S. (1965). "Behaviour of a synthetic clay in pigment dispersions". Rheologica Acta 4 (4): 250–255. doi:10.1007/BF01973660. Bibcode: 1965AcRhe...4..250N. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01973660.
- ↑ Brunchi, C.-E.; Morariu, S. (2024). "Laponite—From Dispersion to Gel—Structure, Properties, and Applications". Molecules 29 (2823): 2823. doi:10.3390/molecules29122823. PMID 38930887.
- ↑ Shafran, Kirill; Jeans, Christopher V; Kemp, Simon J; Murphy, Kevin (2021). "Dr Barbara S. Neumann: Clay Scientist, Industrial Pioneer, Creator of Laponite". Elements 17 (1): 69–70. doi:10.2138/gselements.17.1.69. Bibcode: 2021Eleme..17...69S. https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.17.1.69.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Tomás, Helena; Alves, Carla S.; Rodrigues, João (2018). "Laponite®: A key nanoplatform for biomedical applications?". Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine 14 (7): 2407–2420. doi:10.1016/j.nano.2017.04.016. PMID 28552649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nano.2017.04.016.
- ↑ "Laponite". mindat.org. https://www.mindat.org/min-12338.html.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Shafran, Kirill; Jeans, Christopher V; Kemp, Simon J; Murphy, Kevin (2020). "Dr Barbara S. Neumann: Clay Scientist and Industrial Pioneer". Clay Minerals 55: 256–260. doi:10.1180/clm.2020.35. https://doi.org/10.1180/clm.2020.35.
- ↑ Neumann, B.S., "Clays", GB patent 1213122
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