Silica (SiO2) is ubiquitous on Earth and has become integral to daily life. Although it has a simple chemical formula, the SiO2 system is very complex, with at least 15 known modifications, i.e., mineral phases with the same stoichiometric composition but different crystal structures. Quartz (trigonal, low-temperature α-quartz) is the most important silica polymorph in nature and occurs as a comm…
