Marta Morana

• PhD
• Researcher at University of Florence

Metamorphic rocks are the records of plate tectonic processes whose reconstruction relies on correct estimates of the pressures and temperatures (P-T) experienced by these rocks through time. Unlike chemical geothermobarometry, elastic geobarometry does not rely on chemical equilibrium between minerals, so it has the potential to provide informatio...

The pressure dependence of the polarized Raman scattering of quartz was studied under hydrostatic conditions up to 9 GPa. We extended the available pressure calibrations, usually limited to the two most intense peaks, to a larger number of modes, providing polynomial functions that describe the relationship between pressure P and wavenumber shift \...

The elucidation of the structure-property correlation in 2D metal halide perovskite is a key issue to understand the dependence of optical properties on structural distortions and to design novel tailored materials. To extend the actual knowledge on this kind of correlation to lead-free materials, here we report four novel 2D germanium bromide pero...

Fulgurites are glasses formed when electrical discharge hits a target material made of soil, sand, or rock. Due to their formation conditions, fulgurites inform how high-temperature processes and rapid quenching of rocks results in peculiar mineralogical assemblages characterized by the presence of reduced phases. Fulgurites can either be natural,...

Diamonds provide unique information on the deep Earth’s mantle through the investigation of entrapped minerals and fluids from which pressure-temperature-oxygen fugacity are determined. In this study, we investigated a diamond from the Rio Sorriso area, Juina (Brazil), a site known for the high abundance of discovered sublithospheric diamonds. The...

The As4S6 molecule, although theoretically predicted and supposed to occur in amorphous arsenic sulfides, was missing in the reported structures of crystalline As chalcogenides; the thermodynamic stable phase for this stoichiometry, in fact, is that of the mineral orpiment, which shows a layered structural arrangement based on trigonal AsS3 pyramid...

Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides are highly promising chiroptoelectronic materials with potential applications in several fields, such as circularly polarized photodetectors, second-order nonlinear optics, and spin-selective devices. However, the ability of manipulating the chiroptical response and the chirality transfer from the organ...

Chiral perovskites possess a huge applicative potential in several areas of optoelectronics and spintronics. The development of novel lead‐free perovskites with tunable properties is a key topic of current research. Herein, we report a novel lead‐free chiral perovskite, namely (R/S−)ClMBA2SnI4 (ClMBA=1‐(4‐chlorophenyl)ethanamine) and the correspond...

A chemical reaction between Sb and N2 was induced under high‐pressure (32–35 GPa) and high‐temperature (1600–2200 K) conditions, generated by a laser heated diamond anvil cell. The reaction product was identified by single crystal synchrotron X‐ray diffraction at 35 GPa and room temperature as crystalline antimony nitride with Sb3N5 stoichiometry a...

Chiral perovskites possess a huge applicative potential in several areas of optoelectronics and spintronics. The development of novel lead‐free perovskites with tunable properties is a key topic of current research. Herein, we report a novel lead‐free chiral perovskite, namely (R/S‐)ClMBA2SnI4 (ClMBA = 1‐(4‐chlorophenyl)ethanamine) and the correspo...

A chemical reaction between Sb and N2 was induced under high‐pressure (32‐35 GPa) and high‐temperature (1600‐2200 K) conditions, generated by a laser heated diamond anvil cell. The reaction product was identified by single crystal synchrotron X‐ray diffraction at 35 GPa and room temperature as crystalline antimony nitride with Sb3N5 stoichiometry a...

The development of broadband emitters based on metal halide perovskites (MHPs) requires the elucidation of structure-emission property correlations. Herein, we report a combined experimental and theoretical study on a series of novel low-dimensional lead chloride perovskites, including ditopic aromatic cations. Synthesized lead chloride perovskites...

Chiral perovskites possess a huge applicative potential in several areas of optoelectronics and spintronics. The development of novel lead-free perovskites with tunable properties is a key topic of current research. Herein, we report a novel lead-free chiral perovskite, namely (R/S-)ClMBA2SnI4 and the corresponding racemic system. The reported ClMB...

Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals in the Earth crust and therefore quartz inclusions in garnet are of great interest for elastic geobarometry, an approach that exploits the elastic properties of the mineral pair to back-calculate the conditions of inclusion entrapment. However, the high-temperature behavior of quartz inclusions close to t...

The development of broadband emitters based on metal halide perovskites (MHPs) requires the elucidation of structure-emission property correlations. Herein, we report a combined experimental and theoretical study on a series of novel low-dimensional lead-chloride perovskites including ditopic aromatic cations. Synthesized lead-chloride perovskites...

We report here a novel series of halide alloyed Ge-containing 2D perovskites including decylammonium as organic spacer, namely DA2Ge(Br1−xIx)4. This system forms a continuous solid solution on the halide site with a modulation of the bandgap from 2.74 to 2.17 eV with a rapid decrease up to x = 0.5 followed by a plateau. Iodide-rich compositions sho...

The chemistry and the crystal structure of the recently described mineral argentopolybasite are critically discussed based on the study of two new occurrences of the mineral: Gowganda, Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada and IXL Mine, Silver Mountain mining district, Alpine County, California. The crystal structure of argentopolybasite can be des...

We report here a novel series of halide alloyed Ge-containing 2D perovskites including decylammonium as organic spacer, namely DA2Ge(Br1-xIx)4. This system forms a continuous solid solution on the halide site with a modulation of the band gap from 2.74 to 2.17 eV with a rapid decrease up to x=0.5 followed by a plateau. Iodide-rich compositions show...

Tin-based metal halide perovskites with a composition of ASnX3 (where A= MA or FA and X = I or Br) have been investigated by means of X-ray total scattering techniques coupled to pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. These studies revealed that that none of the four perovskites has a cubic symmetry at the local scale and that a degree of incre...

There is increasing interest in the role of metal halide perovskites for heterogeneous catalysis. Here, we report a Ge-based 2D perovskite material that shows intrinsic water stability realized through organic cation engineering. Incorporating 4-phenylbenzilammonium (PhBz) we demonstrate, by means of extended experimental and computational results,...

We report here the preparation and characterization of two families of RP 2D perovskites including linear monoammonium cations, namely (CnH2n+1NH3)2PbBr4 and (CnH2n+1NH3)2PbI4 with n=4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16. Structural and optical properties shows some similarities between the two series of samples with, however, distinct features related to the...

We report here the preparation and characterization of two families of RP 2D perovskites including linear monoammonium cations, namely (CnH2n+1NH3)2PbBr4 and (CnH2n+1NH3)2PbI4 with n=4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and...

The templating role in the formation of 2D metal halide perovskites of diammonium cations, such as the 1,3-phenylenediammonium (1,3-PDA), 1,3-xylylenediamimonium (1,3-XDA), 1,4-phenylenediammonium (1,4-PDA), and 1,4-xylylenediamimonium (1,4-XDA) cations, has been investigated. Single-crystal x-ray diffraction confirms the formation 2D Dion-Jacobons...

The role of templating the formation of 2D metal halide perovskites has been investigated by considering the 1,3-phenylenediammonium (1,3-PDA), 1,3-xylylenediamimonium (1,3-XDA), 1,4-phenylenediammonium (1,4-PDA), and 1,4-xylylenediamimonium (1,4-XDA) cations in lead bromide systems. Single-crystal x-ray diffraction confirms the formation 2D Dion-J...

Tin halide perovskites have the potential to overcome the toxicity issues of lead-based systems for photovoltaic devices. Elucidation of local structural features in these systems is of fundamental relevance to better understand the optoelectronic properties. This has been realized in ASnX3 (A= MA, FA, and X= I, Br) by total scattering and X-ray pa...

Manipulation by external pressure of the optical response of 2D Metal Halide Perovskite (MHPs) is a fascinating route to tune their properties and promote the emergence of novel features. We investigate here DA2PbI4 and DA2GeI4 (DA=decylammonium) perovskites in the pressure range up to ∼12 GPa by x-ray powder diffraction, absorption, and photolumin...

The role of templating the formation of 2D metal halide perovskites has been investigated by considering the 1,3-phenylenediammonium (1,3-PDA), 1,3-xylylenediamimonium (1,3-XDA), 1,4-phenylenediammonium (1,4-PDA), and 1,4-xylylenediamimonium (1,4-XDA) cations in lead bromide...

The application of an external pressure on Metal Halide Perovskite (MHPs) has become a fascinating way of tuning their optical properties, achieving also novel features. Here, the pressure response of 2D MHPs including a long alkyl chain made of ten carbon atoms, namely decylammonium (DA), has been investigated as a function of the central atom in...

Chemical reactivity between As and N2 , leading to the synthesis of crystalline arsenic nitride, is here reported under high pressure and high temperature conditions generated by laser heating in a Diamond Anvil Cell. Single crystal synchrotron X‐ray diffraction at different pressures between 30 and 40 GPa provides evidence for the synthesis of a c...

Metal halide perovskites have drawn significant attention for their promising physical properties and their possible application in solar cells and light-emitting diodes. Research and technology have made extraordinary progress in this field, but some issues are still to be tackled. In fact, most of the used materials contain lead, which is highly...

Perovskites are attracting an increasing interest in the wide community of photovoltaics, optoelectronic, and detection, traditionally relying on lead‐based systems. This Minireview provides an overview of the current status of experimental and computational results available on Ge‐containing 3D and low‐dimensional halide perovskites. While stabili...

Spryite (Ag7.98Cu0.05)Σ=8.03(As5+0.31Ge0.36As3+0.31Fe3+0.02)Σ=1.00S5.97, and ideally Ag8(As3+0.5As5+0.5)S6, is a new mineral recently described from the Uchucchacua polymetallic deposit, Oyon district, Catajambo, Lima Department, Peru. Its room temperature structure exhibits an orthorhombic symmetry, space group Pna21, with lattice parameters a = 1...

The origin of diamonds in ureilite meteorites is a timely topic in planetary geology as recent studies have proposed their formation at static pressures >20 GPa in a large planetary body, like diamonds formed deep within Earth's mantle. We investigated fragments of three diamond-bearing ureilites (two from the Almahata Sitta poly-mict ureilite and...

The role of halide substitution on a lead-free 2D hybrid perovskite is investigated on the BZA2SnX4 (BZA=benzylammonium; X=Cl, Br and I) system, by reporting the synthesis and the structural analysis by means of single-crystal x-ray diffraction data of the two novel compositions BZA2SnBr4 and BZA2SnCl4. In addition, the mixed composition BZA2Sn(Brx...

Magnetic mineral inclusions, as iron oxides or sulfides, occur quite rarely in natural diamonds. Nonetheless, they represent a key tool not only to unveil the conditions of formation of host diamonds, but also to get hints about the paleointensity of the geomagnetic field present at times of the Earth’s history otherwise not accessible. This possib...

Magnetic mineral inclusions, as iron oxides or sulfides, occur quite rarely in natural diamonds. Nonetheless, they represent a key tool not only to unveil the conditions of formation of host diamonds, but also to get hints about the paleointensity of the geomagnetic field present at times of the Earth’s history otherwise not accessible. This possib...

The Preisach model of hysteresis is applied to interpret the experimental behaviour of hysteresis loop and First Order Reversal Curves (FORCs) collected on sub-mm size, Fe-rich magnetic inclusions entrapped in 4 natural diamonds. In particular, the Preisach distribution is decomposed in the sum of a reversible and irreversible term, with the former...

Magnetic mineral inclusions, as iron oxides or sulfides, occur quite rarely in natural diamonds. Nonetheless, they represent a key tool not only to unveil the conditions of formation of host diamonds, but also to get hints about the paleointensity of the geomagnetic field present at times of the Earth's history otherwise not accessible. This possib...

Here we describe a new mineral in the Cu-Ag-Te system, spiridonovite. The specimen was discovered in a fragment from the cameronite [ideally, Cu 5-x (Cu,Ag) 3+x Te 10 ] holotype material from the Good Hope mine, Vulcan, Colorado (U.S.A.). It occurs as black grains of subhedral to anhedral morphology, with a maximum size up to 65 µm, and shows black...

Experimental and theoretical results are presented on the magnetic properties of magnetite/magnesioferrite polycrystalline inclusions trapped in natural diamonds. In particular, hysteresis loops and First Order Reversal Curves (FORCs) -detected with an Alternating Gradient Field Magnetometer- are qualitatively interpreted in terms of the magnetic...

We report data on the composition and crystal structure of the first As³⁺-bearing natural argyrodite, spryite. Spryite has the formula \(({{\text{Ag}}_{7.98} {\text{Cu}}_{0.05}})_{\varSigma = 8.03} ({{\text{As}}_{0.31}^{5 +} {\text{Ge}}_{0.36} {\text{As}}_{0.31}^{3 +} {\text{Fe}}_{0.02}^{3 +}})_{\varSigma = 1.00} {\text{S}}_{5.97}\), ideally \({\te...