Location, speciation, and quantification of carbon in silica phytoliths using synchrotron scanning transmission X-ray microspectroscopy

by Djanira R. Negrao, Julio C. Cezar, Fabiano E. Montoro, Jian Wang, Charles W. Rice, Carlos E. Driemeier Phytoliths of biogenic silica play a vital role in the silicon biogeochemical cycle and occlude a fraction of organic carbon. The location, chemical speciation, and quantification of this carbon within phytoliths have remained elusive due to limited direct experimental evidence. In this work, phyt oliths (bilobate morphotype) from the sugarcane stalk epidermis are sectioned with a focused ion beam to produce lamellas (≈10 × 10 μm2 size,
Source: PLoS One - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Source Type: research