AFM-IR nanospectroscopy of nanoglobule-like particles in Ryugu samples returned by the Hayabusa2 mission
Jérémie Mathurin, Laure Bejach, E. Dartois, C. Engrand, Alexandre Dazzi, Ariane Deniset‐Besseau, J. Duprat, Yoko Kebukawa, Hikaru Yabuta, L. Bonal, É. Quirico, Christophe Sandt, Ferenc Borondics, Jens Barosch, Pierre Beck, George D. Cody, Brad T. de Gregorio, Minako Hashiguchi, A. L. D. Kilcoyne, M. Komatsu, Zita Martins, Megumi Matsumoto, Gilles Montagnac, S. Mostefaoui, L. R. Nittler, Takuji Ohigashi, Taiga Okumura, Van T. H. Phan, Laurent Rémusat, Scott A. Sandford, Miho Shigenaka, R. M. Stroud, Hiroki Suga, Yoshio Takahashi, Yasuo Takeichi, Yusuke Tamenori, Maximilien Verdier‐Paoletti, Shohei Yamashita, Tomoki Nakamura, Tomoyo Morita, Mizuha Kikuiri, Kana Amano, Eiichi Kagawa, T. Noguchi, Hiroshi Naraoka, Ryuji Okazaki, Kanako Sakamoto, Hisayoshi Yurimoto, Masanao Abe, Kanami Kamide, Akiko Miyazaki, Aiko Nakato, Satoru Nakazawa, Masahiro Nishimura, Tatsuaki Okada, Takanao Saiki, Shogo Tachibana, Satoshi Tanaka, Fuyuto Terui, Yuichi Tsuda, Tomohiro Usui, Sei‐ichiro Watanabe, Toru Yada, Kasumi Yogata, Makoto Yoshikawa
Abstract
Context . The JAXA Hayabusa2 mission returned well-preserved samples collected from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu, providing unique non-terrestrially weathered samples from a known parent body. Aims . This work aims to provide a better understanding of the formation and evolution of primitive asteroidal matter by studying the fine scale association of organic matter and minerals in Ryugu samples. We characterized the samples by IR nanospectroscopy using infrared photothermal nanospectroscopy (AFM-IR) technique. This technique overcomes the diffraction limit (of several microns) of conventional infrared microspectroscopy (µ-FTIR). The samples were mapped in the mid-IR range at a lateral spatial resolution about a hundred times better than with µ-FTIR. This provided us with unique in situ access to the distribution of the different infrared signatures of organic components at the sub-micron scale present in the Ryugu whole-rock samples as well as to the characterization of the compositional variability of Ryugu in the insoluble organic matter (IOM) chemically extracted from the Ryugu samples. Methods . The AFM-IR maps of whole-rock particles and IOM residues from Ryugu samples were recorded with a lateral resolution of tens of nanometers. Spectra were recorded in the 1900–900 cm −1 spectral range by AFM-IR (Icon-IR) for all samples, and additional spectra were recorded from 2700 to 4000 cm −1 for one IOM sample by an optical photothermal IR (O-PTIR) technique using a mIRage® IR microscope. Results . Organic matter is present in two forms in the whole-rock samples: as a diffuse phase intermixed with the phyllosilicate matrix and as individual organic nanoparticles. We identify the Ryugu organic nanoparticles as nanoglobule-like inclusions texturally resembling nanoglobules present in primitive meteorites. Using AFM-IR, we record for the first time the infrared spectra of Ryugu organic nanoparticles that clearly show enhanced carbonyl (C=O) and CH contributions with respect to the diffuse organic matter in Ryugu whole-rock and IOM residue.