https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-020-00346-5
“Saponite, a silicate clay mineral abundantly and ubiquitously available in nature, is structured through stacks of 2D nanosheets with thicknesses of a few nm, which are the minimum structural unit. The 2D nanosheets have a variety of sizes and cannot be perfectly stacked, resulting in partial overlapping as schematically illustrated in Fig. 1a, which has been observed in images of field-emission type scanning electron microscopy14. This results in the formation of nanoscale open spaces (see Fig. 1b), which have been identified by positronium (Ps) annihilation spectroscopy together with molecular dynamics simulation as is detailed later15,16,17. Naturally, there exist local molecular sites in the interior of above open spaces such as nanosheet edges that are chemically active owing to the presence of unpaired electrons at ionically bound octahedron18. In the present work, CO2 adsorption in the open spaces originated from overlapped nanosheets in saponite clay minerals is explored by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, open space analysis using positronium (Ps), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy coupled with conventional chemical techniques. Besides the Na-type saponite, the Cs type is studied to find out an approach of environment-friendly recycling for low contaminated soil in Fukushima. The emergence mechanism of instantaneous mineral carbonation together with the physisorption of CO2 gas molecules, feasible in the absence of energy-consumption process as well as chemical solution enhancement, is highlighted as a future strategy of CO2 capture and storage.”