Nano-solids in manganese nodules from northern part of Pacific Ocean floor——Nano-solids in minerals and prospects of its uses in industry

The study of the crystal structure and particle size of manganese nodules from the northernpart of the Central Pacific Ocean floor indicates that besides the phases of todorokite,birnessite and δ-MnOwith the crystallite size at the micron scale,there are many other multi-phase solids having particle size at thenanomater scale.The chemical analysis,TEM study,M(?)ssbauer spectroscopy and differential thermal analysisshow that they are mainly ferri-hydroxides with the short-range ordered structure similar to that of goethiteand lepidocrocite.The small-angle X-ray scattering measurements indicate that the peak position of the particlesize distribution is at 5-10nm,hence the existence of nano-solids in minerals is confirmed.