Spangolite – A Pyroelectric Copper Sulfate Sheet Mineral

Spangolite

• Named in honour of Norman Spang (1841–1922), a mineral collector from Pennsylvania, USA; for details, see here.
• Spangolite is pyroelectric
• Formula: Cu₆Al(SO₄)(OH)₁₂Cl · 3 H₂O
• Space group: P31c (No. 159)
• Crystal system: trigonal
• Crystal class: 3m
• Lattice parameters: a = b = 8.254(4) Å, c = 14.354(8) Å, α = β = 90°, γ = 120°

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Picture: Christian Rewitzer, CC BY-SA 3.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14865917

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Crystal structure (click on the picture to download the VESTA file):

(K. Momma and F. Izumi, “VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data,”J. Appl. Crystallogr., 44, 1272-1276 (2011).)

• CuO₆ distorted octahedra (blue)
• AlO₆ octahedra (orange)
• SO₄ tetrahedra (yellow)
• Oxygen (red)
• Chlorine (green)
• Hydrogen (white)

For a 3D interactive version on sketchfab, see here:

https://skfb.ly/6Q6U7

References:

[1] Spangolite
H. A. Miers
Mineralogical Magazine 1894, 10, 273-277

DOI: 10.1180/minmag.1894.010.48.02

[2] The Crystal Structure of Spangolite, a Complex Copper Sulfate Sheet Mineral
F.C. Hawthorne, M. Kimata, R.K. Eby
American Mineralogist 1993, 78 (5-6), 649-652.

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