Halloysite: a unique, diverse and widely useful natural nanomaterial
Halloysite is a clay mineral whose time has arrived. Until 2006, few papers were published on this mineral. Its main use was as a raw material for ceramics, in place of kaolinite. The approximately 800 papers published since then reflect its recognition as a nanomaterial, especially in nanotubes. These have proved widely useful, including as reinforcing fillers in plastics, as carriers for the controlled internal release of medicines – and of pesticides, and also for immobilizing catalysts. Nonetheless, it remains “a very strange mineral” as was once written.
