Mar. 16 – Nature constantly surprises scientists. This time, a team of researchers that includes the Italian Luca Bindi, professor at the University of Florence, has identified the second quasicrystal existing in nature, with a chemical composition considered impossible until today. The news was revealed in an article published in the latest issue of the Scientific Reports (under the title “Natural Quasicrystal with decagonal Symmetry”). “Quasicrystals are a particular form of solid in which atoms are arranged in a non-periodic structure – explains Bindi, Associate Professor of Mineralogy at the University of Florence – Until a few years ago, it was thought that these materials could only be artificial, created in laboratories and used for everyday objects, such as nonstick films for pots and razor blades, given their remarkable strength.” This particular state of matter exists also in nature, as Bindi documented in 2009, when, in collaboration with a team of physicists from the Universities of Princeton and Harvard, he identified the first natural quasicrystal in a meteorite fragment at the Museum of Natural History in Florence. The mineral, recognized by the International Mineralogical Association as icosahedrite, has an icosahedral symmetry (like a soccer ball), thought of as impossible for ordinary crystals. “In that same meteorite – describes Bindi – we identified another natural compound with a new symmetry: an ternary alloy of aluminum, nickel and iron, with a decagonal symmetry. This new discovery – said Bindi – shows that nature can form objects with symmetries previously unknown. It also confirms that quasicrystals can remain stable in terms of cosmic time scales. This is an extremely important conclusion for physics, solid state chemistry and material sciences, given the enormous practical applications that these solids have.”
