Adrienn Maria Szucs
Ph.D, M.Sc.
Geochemist / Mineralogist
News & Updates
📢 Paper Published 📢
Turning waste into resource: This study shows how discarded seashells can act as highly effective, low-cost materials for capturing rare earth elements from solution. By tracking mineral transformation pathways, it demonstrates that oyster shells in particular enable efficient and near-complete uptake due to their unique structure. The work highlights an environmentally friendly approach to recovering critical metals from industrial waste streams, supporting circular economy strategies in resource extraction and remediation.
Rateau, R., Maddin, M., Szucs, A. M., Terribili, L., Guyett, P. C., Zubovic, K. P., & Rodriguez-Blanco, J. D. (2026). Sustainable rare earth capture using seashell carbonates: Mineralogical pathways and comparative uptake behaviour of mussel, cockle, and oyster shells. Science of The Total Environment, 1027, 181698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181698
📢 Paper Published 📢
From microstructure to magnetism, this side project shows how Ba quietly rewrites the rules inside hollandite frameworks.
Sharma, V., Gautam, G., Raza, A., Wang, C.-W., Szucs, A. M., Misture, S., Siegrist, T., & Sharma, S. (2026). Ba-induced structural modulation and complex magnetic ordering in Ba₁.₂Mn₈O₁₆ and Ba₁.₂FeMn₇O₁₆. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 1062, 187536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2026.187536
📢 Paper Published 📢
Understanding how rare earth minerals form is key to their sustainable recovery.
This study brings together more than a decade of work to explain how rare earth element (REE) minerals form, transform, and move through natural and engineered systems. By linking crystallization, mineral replacement, and redox reactions into a single framework, we show how subtle chemical controls determine which REE phases form and how stable they are. Beyond fundamental mineral science, these insights point toward more sustainable strategies for REE recovery and circular use of waste-derived materials.
Rodriguez-Blanco, J. D.*, Maddin, M.*, Rateau, R.*, Szucs, A. M.*, Terribili, L.*, Vallina, B.*, & Zubovic, L. (2026). Crystallization, replacement, and redox pathways governing rare earth carbonate and phosphate formation. CrystEngComm, 28. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CE01083G
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
📢 Paper Published 📢
Sometimes science takes you in unexpected directions. I had the chance to jump into a 3D-printed, glow-in-the-dark X-ray scintillator project, helping turn fragile perovskites into water-stable, biodegradable, 3D-printed materials for imaging and radiation detection. A great example of where mineralogy, materials science, and collaboration collide.
Reference
Elattar, A., Al Noman, A., Dyson, A., Winfred, J. S. R. V., Guzelturk, B., Kearney, L. T., Szucs, A. M., & Dickens, T. (2026). 3D printed water-stable Cd-doped Cs₄MnBi₂Cl₁₂/polylactic acid perovskite/polymer composites for high-flux X-ray scintillation. Materials Chemistry Frontiers. DOI: 10.1039/D5QM00667H
🗣️ AGU Fall Meeting 2025
Preliminary Assessment of Phosphogypsum as a Critical Mineral Source in Central Florida
J. Park, J. Wadhams, D. Hendrix, A. Hilleary, S. Yang, M. Sherif, A. M. Szucs, M. Humayun
This presentation explored how phosphogypsum waste in Central Florida could serve as a domestic source of critical minerals, particularly rare earth elements, while also producing cleaner, reusable gypsum. The work highlights how large-scale industrial waste may be re-imagined as a resource rather than a liability.
📢 Book Chapters Published 📢
I am really happy to share the news of two book chapters below, both published in the volume Nucleation and Growth of Sedimentary Minerals, Special Publication 50 of the International Association of Sedimentologists.
Dolomite formation processes: insights from laboratory and field investigations
A. M. Szucs, J. D. Rodriguez-Blanco
Dolomite is one of the most abundant carbonate minerals in the geological record, yet it barely forms in the present. This long-standing contradiction, often referred to as the “dolomite problem”, has puzzled geoscientists for decades.
In this chapter, we review the existing literature to discuss how dolomite may form in natural systems. We compare the main proposed formation pathways, including dolomitisation, cementation, and biologically influenced processes, and examine what is known about dolomite formation at the molecular and nanoscale. While many mechanisms are now well described, the chapter highlights why developing a unified model for dolomite formation across modern and ancient environments remains challenging.
Nucleation and Growth of Sedimentary Minerals, pp. 123–150 (2025)
Neoproterozoic stromatolite mineralogy in Murchisonfjorden (Svalbard, Norway) reflecting variable depositional environments
A. M. Szucs, M. Maddin, P. H. Meister, F. Drakou, A. Stavropoulou, N. Faulkner, J. D. Rodriguez-Blanco
This chapter takes us to Svalbard, where Neoproterozoic stromatolites preserve a detailed mineralogical record of ancient environmental conditions.
Using a combination of optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, cathodoluminescence, XRD, and XRF, we show that these stromatolites consist of finely layered dolomite-quartz and calcite-rich bands that most likely record periodic changes in depositional environments, such as shifts between open coastal and more restricted lagoonal settings. Mineralogical features also point to episodic microbial activity, early silicification, and later oxidation events, highlighting how stromatolites can act as a geochemical and mineralogical archive of environmental change in deep time.
Nucleation and Growth of Sedimentary Minerals, pp. 347–369 (2025)
📢 Paper Published 📢
Can new minerals briefly “inherit” the crystal structure of the minerals they replace?
In “Transient Epitaxial Growth of Rare Earth Carbonates during Low-Temperature Replacement of Calcite, Aragonite, and Dolomite,” we show that rare-earth-bearing carbonates can grow in a highly ordered, crystal-aligned way on common carbonate minerals during low-temperature fluid–rock reactions. As calcium–magnesium carbonates dissolve, new rare-earth carbonates initially form in perfect crystallographic alignment with the original mineral surface — a short-lived but remarkably organized stage of growth.
This ordered relationship is temporary. As the reaction progresses, the system shifts to faster, less controlled crystallization, breaking the crystal alignment and producing different rare-earth phases. The study reveals that whether this ordered growth appears — and how long it lasts — depends on a delicate balance between crystal structure, fluid chemistry, and how quickly the host mineral dissolves.
Why this matters: these processes help explain how rare earth elements move, concentrate, or become immobilized in hydrothermal systems, and they provide design principles for developing low-temperature methods to capture or precipitate rare earths in recovery and separation technologies.
A. M. Szucs, R. Rateau, M. Maddin, J. D. Rodriguez-Blanco
Crystal Growth & Design, 25(21), 9275–9287 (2025)
DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.5c01096
📢 Paper Published 📢
Natural carbonation in alkali basalts: Geochemical evolution of Ca–Mg–Fe carbonates at Sverrefjellet, Svalbard reports how carbon dioxide is naturally trapped as solid carbonate minerals inside basaltic rocks.
Using XRD and electron microscopy, the study shows how calcium-, magnesium-, and iron-rich carbonates form and evolve during hydrothermal fluid–rock interaction. These natural examples help constrain how effective basalt formations can be for long-term CO₂ mineral storage.
A. Pierozzi, N. Faulkner, A. M. Szucs, L. Terribili, M. Maddin, F. Meloni, K. Devkota, K. P. Zubovic, P. C. Guyett, J. D. Rodriguez-Blanco
Carbon Capture Science & Technology (2025)
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccst.2025.100510
📢 Paper Published 📢
A side project showing how SEM-EDX can reveal hidden chemical inhomogeneities that strongly influence magnetic behaviour. What looked like a single material by XRD turned out to be chemically heterogeneous at the micro-scale, with important consequences for how the system orders magnetically at low temperatures. 🔬🧲
Structural Inhomogeneities and Suppressed Magnetostructural Coupling in Mn-Substituted GeCo₂O₄
S. Sharma, P. Jain, B. Schundelmier, C.-W. Wang, P. Yadav, A. M. Szucs, K. Wei, N. P. Lalla, T. Siegrist
Chemistry of Materials
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5c01331
🗣️ Goldschmidt Conference 2025
We presented two contributions at the Goldschmidt 2025 Conference, both focused on understanding how critical elements such as rare earth elements (REEs) and radionuclides move through the phosphate industry — from mined ore to industrial waste.
This is important because phosphates are essential for agriculture, but their processing also generates large volumes of waste that can contain both valuable critical materials and environmentally sensitive elements. Knowing where these elements are hosted at the microscale is key for both responsible waste management and future resource recovery.
Microanalytical Perspectives on REEs and RCRA Elements from Ore to Waste in the Phosphate Cycle
A. M. Szucs, B. C. Hoare, S. Yang, T. Siegrist, M. Humayun
This presentation provided a broad overview of how advanced microanalytical techniques can be used to track rare earth elements and regulated elements as phosphate materials move from natural ore through industrial processing and into waste products. By linking mineralogy and chemistry across the full phosphate cycle, the work highlights where critical elements are retained, lost, or concentrated – information that is essential for designing safer and more sustainable phosphate production routes.
Integrating LA-ICP-ToF-MS mapping with alpha autoradiography and EDX to determine the host phases for radionuclides and REE in phosphogypsum waste
B. C. Hoare, A. M. Szucs, J. Wadhams, T. Albrecht, M. Humayun
This contribution focused specifically on phosphogypsum, using a combination of high-resolution chemical mapping, radiation imaging, and electron microscopy. The study identifies which mineral phases host radionuclides and REEs within the waste.
🛰️ Conference contribution🔬
A small side project and a nice opportunity to contribute SEM-EDX and micro-XRF data to work outside my main research focus.
I contributed SEM-EDX and micro-XRF data to a conference paper titled “The Composition of EET A79001 Lithology C Shows No Evidence of Martian Soil Incorporation,” presented in LPI Contributions.
The study examines the composition of EETA 79001 Lithology C and shows that, although sulfur concentrations are higher than in Lithology A, there is no additional mineralogical or geochemical evidence to support incorporation of Martian soil material.
Authors:
S. Yang, A.M. Szucs, M. Humayun, K. Righter
LPI Contributions, 3090, 2706 (2025)
📢 Paper Published 📢
Our paper “Mechanistic Insights into the Early-Stage Crystallization and Nanophase Formation of Metastable Light Rare-Earth Carbonates” has been published in Crystal Growth & Design.
This work provides mechanistic insight into the early stages of light rare earth element (LREE) carbonate crystallization, with a focus on metastable phase formation, nanophase development, and pathways controlling crystallization under low-temperature conditions.
L. Terribili, A. M. Szucs, M. Maddin, K. P. Zubovic, R. Rateau, J. D. Rodriguez-Blanco
Crystal Growth & Design, 25(4), 945–962 (2025)
DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.4c01168
📢 Paper Published 📢
Nanophase REE phosphate crystallization induced by vivianite oxidation: mechanistic insights and mineralogical implications
M. Maddin, L. Terribili, R. Rateau, A. M. Szucs, J. D. Rodriguez-Blanco
RSC Advances, 15(14), 11257–11270 (2025)
DOI: 10.1039/D4RA08110B
This study examines how vivianite oxidation promotes the crystallization of nanophase rare earth element (REE) phosphates, providing mechanistic insight into coupled redox-driven mineralization processes and their implications for REE mobility and sequestration.
📢 Paper Published 📢
A collaboration well outside my usual research focus, but a genuinely a fun one.
“Which Flavor of 9,10-Bis(phenylethynyl)Anthracene is Best for Perovskite-Sensitized Triplet–Triplet Annihilation?” was published in Advanced Energy Materials. The study examines how subtle molecular variations in 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene (BPEA) and its chlorinated derivatives influence triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion performance in perovskite-based systems.
Although these molecules behave very similarly when dissolved in liquid, they act very differently once made into thin solid films. This turns out to be crucial for how well the light-conversion process works, showing that tiny changes at the molecular level can have a big impact on real devices. 🔬✨
Sullivan, C. M., Szucs, A. M., Cantrell, A. P., Shulenberger, K. E., Siegrist, T., & Nienhaus, L. (2024). Which flavor of 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene is best for perovskite-sensitized triplet–triplet annihilation? Advanced Energy Materials, 2404130. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202404130