Clays and Clay Minerals, Vol. 56, No. 2, 190–206, 2008.

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Authors

Kosakowski, Georg
Churakov, Sergey V.
Thoenen, Tres

Issue Date

2008

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Article

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Keywords

Periodicals , Geology , Cs+, Diffusion , Molecular Dynamics , Montmorillonite , Na+ , Swelling , Water

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Alternative Title

Diffusion Of Na And Cs In Montmorillonite.

Abstract

The state and dynamics of water and cations in pure and mixed Na-Cs-montmorillonite as a function of the interlayer water content were investigated in the present study, using Monte Carlo and classical, molecular-dynamics methods. While highly idealized, the simulations showed that the swelling behavior of hetero-ionic Na-Cs-montmorillonite is comparable to the swelling of a homo-ionic Na- or Csmontmorillonite. The mixed Na-Cs-montmorillonite is characterized by intermediate interlayer distances compared to homo-ionic Na- and Cs-montmorillonites. Dry, hetero-ionic Na-Cs-montmorillonite is characterized by a symmetric sheet configuration, as is homo-ionic Cs-montmorillonite. We found that at low degrees of hydration the absolute diffusion coefficient of Cs+ is less than forNa +, whereas at greater hydration states the diffusion coefficient of Cs+ is greatert han forNa +. An analysis of the relative diffusion coefficients (the ratio between the diffusion coefficient of an ion in the interlayer and its diffusion coefficient in bulk water) revealed that water and Na+ are always less retarded than Cs+. With large interlayerwa tercontents, tetralayerormor e, Na+ ions preferentially form outer-sphere complexes. The mobility perpendicular to the clay surface is limited and the diffusion is equivalent to two-dimensional diffusion in bulk water. In contrast, Cs+ ions preferentially form ‘inner-sphere complexes’ at all hydration states and theirtwo-dimens ional diffusion coefficient is less than in bulk water. The question remains unanswered as to why experimentally derived relative diffusion coefficients of Cs+ in the interlayer of clays are about 20 times less than those we obtained by classical molecular dynamics studies.

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Clays and Clay Minerals, Vol. 56, No. 2, 190–206, 2008. Diffusion Of Na And Cs In Montmorillonite. Georg Kosakowski; Sergey V. Churakov; Tres Thoenen. DOI: 10.1346/CCMN.2008.0560205. Copyright © 2008, The Clay Minerals Society.

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Clays and Clay Minerals, Vol. 56, No. 2, 190–206, 2008.

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The Clay Minerals Society

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Copyright © 2006-2018, The Clay Minerals Society

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