Nano-heterogeneity of natural impact silica-rich glasses according to atomic force microscopy and spectroscopy data

In nature extreme PT-conditions result in numerous glass-like solids, the study of which allows specifying various structural and chemical features of extreme materials, which have a great application potential in various fields of technology. We studied features of nanostructure of natural impact glasses, including recently discovered ultrahigh-pressure high-temperature impact glasses, compared to low-pressure natural and synthetic standard silica glasses. In this paper we presented complex data of atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray energy-dispersive spectrometry, infrared and Raman spectroscopy. We described nanostructural characteristics of impact glasses and showed influence of chemical composition on the features of their structure. We discovered that the elemental composition was the most important factor determining the glasses nano-heterogeneity. We noted an essential role of influence of Na impurity on glass nanostructure. The impact glasses with pure SiO2 composition have the smallest sizes of nanostructural elements.