Complete Crystal Structures and Elastic Properties of the Uranyl Minerals Johannite, Pseudojohannite and Derriksite

Abstract

Due to the high solubility of uranyl sulfate and selenite minerals, the investigation involving the determination of the crystal structures and physical properties of these minerals is essential in actinide environmental chemistry for the simulation of uranium migration from uraninite deposits and nuclear waste repositories. However, the determination of the complete crystal structures of the uranyl sulfate minerals johannite (Cu(UO2)2(SO4)2(OH)2 ·8H2O) and pseudojohannite (Cu3(UO2)4(SO4)2O4(OH)2 ·12H2O) and the uranyl selenite mineral derriksite (Cu4[((UO2)(SeO3)2(OH)6]) has not been feasible so far. In this work, the crystal structures of these minerals, including the positions of the hydrogen atoms, are determined using first principles solid-state methods based on periodic density functional theory using plane wave basis sets and pseudopotentials. The lattice parameters and associated geometrical variables as well as the corresponding X-ray diffraction patterns derived from the computed crystal structures are in excellent agreement with their experimental counterparts, derived from the corresponding experimental structures lacking the hydrogen atom positions. The complete crystal structure of derriksite is also determined by refinement from X-ray diffraction data, the resulting structure being consistent with the computed one. The knowledge of the positions of H atoms is of fundamental importance not only because they define the corresponding hydrogen bond networks holding together the atoms in the structures, but also because it allows for the efficient, inexpensive and safe determination of the physical properties using first principles methods. This feature is particularly important in the case of uranium-containing minerals due to their radiotoxicity, complicating the handling of the samples and experimental measurements. In this work, from the computed crystal structures, the elasticity tensors of these minerals are computed using the finite displacement method and a rich set of elastic properties including the bulk, Young’s and shear moduli, the Poisson’s ratio, ductility, anisotropy and hardness indices and bulk modulus derivatives with respect to pressure derivatives are determined.