Paper 2026: Nanophase Iron of New Nano‐Lamella and Zoned Morphology Discovered in a Lunar Meteorite


Nanophase Iron of New Nano‐Lamella and Zoned Morphology Discovered in a Lunar Meteorite

Reviews and HighlightsQuantum ScienceMolecular and Soft-matterUltrafast Nano-optics and NanophotonicsMineralogy and Geochemistry

Zhichen Zhao, Ruizhi Zhou, Renkang Song, Lihui Li, Zhou Zhou, Chao Wang, Wei Teng, Kunkun Fu, Zhengwu Jiang, Hengci Tian, Huan Xie, Yu Huang, Bofeng Li, Markus B. Raschke, Zhanshan Wang, Xiao Ma, Xiaohua Tong, Tao Jiang, and Hu Zheng
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 131, e2026JE009684 (2026).
DOI PDF

Nanophase iron (np‐Fe0), as one of the key products of space weathering, is widely observed in the near‐surface layer of lunar materials, providing crucial evidence for their geological evolution. Here we report the discovery of np‐Fe0 with a rare lamellar morphology, embedded in Fe‐Ti‐Cr oxide solid solutions within the interior of the lunar meteorite NWA 4734, characterized by nanometer‐scale thicknesses and micrometer‐scale lateral dimensions. Notably, these lamellae exhibit a unique three‐layer core‐shell structure, consisting of np‐Fe0 core, Fe3+‐bearing shell, and ilmenite‐dominated outer layer. This finding offers new insights into the formation process of np‐Fe0 in lunar materials through thermal decomposition and disproportionation associated with impact events and space weathering, and reveals a novel pathway for nanomaterial synthesis under extreme conditions.