A series of novel guar gum-g-poly(sodium acrylate-co-styrene)/muscovite (GG-g-P(NaA-co-St)/MVT) superabsorbent composites were prepared by free-radical grafting copolymerization of natural guar gum (GG), partially neutralized acrylic acid (NaA), styrene (St) and muscovite (MVT) using ammonium persulfate (APS) as the initiator and N,N-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) as the crosslinker. Optical ab...

Rare earth elements (REEs + Y) play an important role in modern industry. Heavy REEs (HREEs) are particularly critical because of their relative scarcity nature. Global HREE resources predominantly present granitoid weathering crusts southern China. Although it is well known that generally enriched alkaline rocks, contrast, the parental granitoids most Chinese deposits peraluminous. Here, we ex...

New Ar-Ar muscovite and Rb-Sr biotite age data in combination with structural analyses from the Apuseni Mountains provide new constraints on the timing and kinematics of deformation during the Cretaceous. Time-temperature paths from the structurally highest basement nappe of the Apuseni Mountains in combination with sedimentary data indicate exhumation and a position close to the surface after ...

The requirement of lattice matching between a material and its substrate for the growth of defect-free heteroepitaxial crystals can be circumvented with van der Waals epitaxy (vdWE). However, the utilization and characteristics of vdWE in nonlamellar/nonplanar nanoarchitectures are still not very well-documented. Here we establish the characteristics of vdWE in nanoarchitectures using a case st...

Samples of fault gouge from the San Andreas Fault drill hole (SAFOD), a shale from the North Sea sedimentary basin and schists from metamorphic rocks in the Alps have been analyzed with high energy synchrotron X-rays to determine preferred orientation of mica and clay minerals. The method relies on obtaining 2D diffraction images which are then processed with the crystallographic Rietveld metho...

The character and distribution of cooling ages in modern river sediment provide useful constraints on rates and patterns of uplift and erosion within actively deforming mountain ranges. Such sediment effectively samples all locations within the catchment area, irrespective of remoteness. We evaluate how successfully detrital cooling ages may be used to constrain hinterland erosion rates by exam...

Surfaces with controllable topography and chemistry were prepared to act as substrates for protein crystallization, in order to investigate the influence of these surface properties on the protein crystallization outcome. Three different methods were investigated to deposit 1,3,5-tris(10-carboxydecyloxy)benzene (TCDB) on a muscovite mica substrate to find the best route for controlled topograph...