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Dissolution processes

Stuffed structures

Nature Materials volume 11, pages 183–184 (2012)Cite this article

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Understanding oxide dissolution processes on the molecular scale remains a challenge. A study on nanoscale oxides suggests a mechanism for dissolution that proceeds through the formation of oxygen-stuffed metastable structures.

Dissolution is pervasive in the natural and industrial world, from the weathering of rocks, which provides nutrients for the ecosystem and feedback to regulate global climate1, to metal-oxide corrosion, which is critical for many technologies2. Despite the importance for disciplines as diverse as geochemistry and materials science, understanding how such solids dissolve remains a challenge. A study of oxygen-exchange reactions at the surface of nanoscale oxide materials known as polyoxometallates (POMs), reported by James Rustad and William Casey in Nature Materials, suggests a new molecular-scale mechanism that controls the dissolution rate of oxides3.

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Figure 1: Opening of a polyoxometalate (POM) as the controlling step in a dissolution reaction3.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paul Fenter is in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Bldg 200, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA,

    Paul Fenter

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  1. Paul Fenter
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Correspondence to Paul Fenter.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Fenter, P. Stuffed structures. Nature Mater 11, 183–184 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3252

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