Effects of Substitution of Germanium for Silicon in Imogolite

Abstract

Imogolites in which a part or all of Si was substituted with Ge were synthesized from solutions containing aluminum ion and silicic and/or germanic acid. The products were similar to natural imogolite in their tubular morphology, electron diffraction patterns, and differential thermal analysis curves. However, the external diameter of the tube increased with increasing Ge substitution up to about 33 Å, and associated changes appeared in the X-ray powder diffraction patterns, suggesting that the substitution of Ge for Si caused a decrease in the curvature of the gibbsite sheet with which SiO- or GeO-tetrahedra are associated. Infrared absorption bands at 995 and 930 cm⁻¹ in imogolite disappeared and new bands appeared at 910 and 810 cm⁻¹ on substitution of Ge for Si, whereas those in the region between 700 and 300 cm⁻¹ remained unchanged or changed little. The former two bands were assigned to Si-O vibrations and the latter bands to Al-O vibrations.