Muscovite mica, a 2:1 layered aluminosilicate isotructural with the clay minerals illite and smectite, is an important reference material in fundamental studies of mineral-water interfaces because it can be cleaved to expose an atomically smooth siloxane surface with macroscopic dimensions.  In recent years, X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements by scientists at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) has provided an unprecedentedly detailed view of cation adsorption from liquid water onto the basal surface of muscovite mica [Lee et al., Langmuir 28:8637 (2012); Lee et al., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 123:416 (2013)].  Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are known to be highly synergistic with spectroscopic studies. Here, we present new MD simulation results on the adsorption of cations at mica-water interfaces and we discuss the implications of these results for the interpretation of the XRR data.

Molecular dynamics simulations of cation adsorption at mica-water interfaces

248th National Meeting (2014)

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