Nanoarchitectonics of Illite-Based Materials: Effect of Metal Oxides Intercalation on the Mechanical Properties

Abstract

Clay minerals inevitably interact with colloidal oxides (mainly iron and aluminum oxides) in the evolution of natural geomaterials. However, the interaction between the clay minerals and the colloidal oxides affecting the stability and the strength of geotechnical materials remains poorly understood. In the present work, the interaction between the clay minerals and the colloidal oxides was investigated by reaction molecular dynamics simulations to explore the mechanical properties of illite-based materials. It was found that the metal atoms of the intercalated amorphous iron and aluminum oxides interact with oxygen atoms of the silica tetrahedron at the interface generating chemical bonds to enhance the strength of the illite-based materials considerably. The deformation and failure processes of the hybrid illite-based structures illustrated that the Al–O bonds were more favorable to the mechanical properties’ improvement of the hybrid system compared with Fe–O bonds. Moreover, the anisotropy of illite was greatly improved with metal oxide intercalation. This study provides new insight into the mechanical properties’ improvement of clay-based materials through metal oxides intercalation.

Materials Nanoarchitectonics at Dynamic Interfaces: Structure Formation and Functional Manipulation

“…The research papers that claim to be nanoarchitectonics are as follows. The application of nanoarchitectonics can be seen in basic fields, such as the synthesis of functional materials [ 204 , 205 , 206 , 207 , 208 , 209 , 210 , 211 , 212 , 213 , 214 , 215 , 216 , 217 , 218 , 219 ], the control of specific structures [ 220 , 221 , 222 , 223 , 224 , 225 , 226 , 227 , 228 , 229 , 230 ], the creation of structures [ 231 , 232 , 233 , 234 , 235 , 236 , 237 , 238 , 239 , 240 ], basic physics [ 241 , 242 , 243 , 244 , 245 , 246 , 247 , 248 , 249 , 250 , 251 , 252 ], relatively basic biochemistry [ 253 , 254 ,…”

“…The research papers that claim to be nanoarchitectonics are as follows. The application of nanoarchitectonics can be seen in basic fields, such as the synthesis of functional materials [204][205][206][207][208][209][210][211][212][213][214][215][216][217][218][219], the control of specific structures [220][221][222][223][224][225][226][227][228][229][230], the creation of structures [231][232][233][234][235][236][237][238][239][240], basic physics [241][242][243][244][245][246][247][248][249][250][251][252]<...…”