Computer Simulations Of Cations Order-Disorder In 2:1 Dioctahedral Phyllosilicates Using Cation-Exchange Potentials And Monte Carlo Methods

This article reviews the use of Monte Carlo methods with cation-exchange potentials and effective Hamiltonians, based on empirical potentials and quantum-mechanical calculations, for the study of cation ordering in phyllosilicates. The basic methodology is described, and the application of the methods is illustrated with a number of key example case studies. These include Al-Si ordering in muscovite, Al-Fe-Mg ordering (both binary and ternary compositions) in the octahedral illite/smectite sheet, examination of the ordering behavior of phengite, in which the octahedral sites are occupied by Al and Mg and the tetrahedral sites by Al and Si, and Al-Si ordering in the tetrahedral phyllosilicate sheet with variable Al: Si ratio. In several cases, complex ordering processes were found. The essential conclusion from this work is that computer simulation studies of this nature can be a valuable tool in ordering studies of many nanomaterials. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.