Structural analysis, optical absorption and EPR spectroscopic studies on chrysotile

Chrysotile, a variety of serpentine minerals has been investigated through optical absorption and EPR studies. High magnification electron micrographs have shown the existence of a tube-like structure of the layers. The optical absorption indicated the presence of Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions. The bands at 10,989, 11,111, 15,873 19,608, 22,727 and 26,316 cm− 1 we assigned to Fe3+ and the other bands at 9260, 10,526, 11,628, 12,048 and 21,739 cm− 1 Fe2+. The g-values indicated that Fe3+ have entered in to the lattice by replacing Mg2+ ions. The IR spectrum of trioctahedral chrysotile shows two bands at 3694 and 3648 cm− 1 in the OH stretching region. This sample was highly disordered as reflected by the X-ray diffraction pattern.