From low- to high-tech applications of clay minerals

Natural clay minerals are abundant and sustainable, and they  are found in  many traditional applications due to their physical and chemical properties, including their mechanical stability, 2D naoscale character and non-toxicity. These traditional applications can  for the most part be categorized as low-tech applications based on empirical knowledge, and they include applications of clay particles in bricks and pottery, 2D clay mineral nanosheets as rheology modifiers, and clay powders or clay nanoporus structures as sorbents or catalysts. Recently, synthetic clays of superior quality have emerged, and they have opened up paths towards high-tech applications of clay minerals, such as clay minerals for structural coloration, for use in diagnostic tools, or for targeted gas barriers or gas separation. In this talk this transiton from low-tech to innovation and high-tech applicatiions of clay minerals will be explored, and some possible future directions will be discussed.