Editing Pyrite (section)

== Uses ==
[[File:Stolna pri Perneku.jpg|thumbnail|left|An abandoned pyrite mine near [[Pernek]] in [[Slovakia]]]]

Pyrite gained a brief popularity in the 16th and 17th&nbsp;centuries as a source of [[Combustion|ignition]] in early [[firearm]]s, most notably the [[wheellock]], where a sample of pyrite was placed against a circular file to strike the sparks needed to fire the gun.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Larson|first=Bruce|date=2003|title=An Interpretation of Firearms in the Archaeological Record in Virginia 1607-1625|chapter=Firearms|chapter-url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2831100051/GVRL?u=lond95336&sid=GVRL&xid=edf7e554|series=Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects|volume=1|pages=413–418}}</ref>

Pyrite is used with [[flint]]stone and a form of [[tinder]] made of [[stringybark]] by the [[Kaurna people]] of [[South Australia]], as a traditional method of starting fires.<ref>{{cite web | last=Schultz | first=Chester | title=Place Name Summary 6/23: Brukangga and Tindale's uses of the word bruki | website=Adelaide Research & Scholarship | publisher=[[University of Adelaide]] | date=22 October 2018 | url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/kwp/placenames/research-publ/6-23Brukangga.pdf | access-date=16 November 2020 | archive-date=10 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910191311/https://www.adelaide.edu.au/kwp/placenames/research-publ/6-23Brukangga.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Pyrite has been used since classical times to manufacture ''copperas'' ([[Iron(II) sulfate|ferrous sulfate]]). Iron pyrite was heaped up and allowed to weather (an example of an early form of [[heap leaching]]). The acidic runoff from the heap was then boiled with iron to produce iron sulfate. In the 15th century, new methods of such leaching began to replace the burning of sulfur as a source of [[sulfuric acid]]. By the 19th&nbsp;century, it had become the dominant method.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Industrial England in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century |journal=Nature |volume=83 |issue=2113 |date=1910-04-28 |pages=264–268 |doi=10.1038/083264a0|bibcode = 1910Natur..83..264. |hdl=2027/coo1.ark:/13960/t63497b2h |s2cid=34019869 |url=https://archive.org/details/industrialenglan00woodrich |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Pyrite remains in commercial use for the production of [[sulfur dioxide]], for use in such applications as the [[Pulp and paper industry|paper industry]], and in the manufacture of sulfuric acid. Thermal decomposition of pyrite into FeS ([[iron(II) sulfide]]) and elemental sulfur starts at {{cvt|540|C|||}}; at around {{cvt|700|C|||}}, ''p''<sub>S<sub>2</sub></sub> is about {{nowrap|1 atm}}.<ref>{{cite book |title=Principles of extractive metallurgy |author=Rosenqvist, Terkel |edition=2nd |publisher=Tapir Academic Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-82-519-1922-7 |page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2mg2ine4AEC&pg=PA52 }}</ref>

A newer commercial use for pyrite is as the [[cathode]] material in [[Energizer]] brand non-rechargeable [[Lithium metal battery|lithium metal batteries]].<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Energizer Corporation |url=http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/lithiuml91l92_appman.pdf |title=Lithium-Iron Disulfide (Li-FeS<sub>2</sub>) |series=Handbook and Application Manual |date=2017-09-19 |article=Cylindrical Primary Lithium [battery] |access-date=2018-04-20 |archive-date=2006-03-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060317180835/http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/lithiuml91l92_appman.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Pyrite is a [[semiconductor material]] with a [[band gap]] of 0.95 [[Electronvolt|eV]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.esqsec.unibe.ch/%5Cpub%5Cpub_51.htm |title=Iron Disulfide (Pyrite) as Photovoltaic Material: Problems and Opportunities |author1=Ellmer, K. |author2=Tributsch, H. |name-list-style=amp |journal=Proceedings of the 12th Workshop on Quantum Solar Energy Conversion – (QUANTSOL 2000) |date=2000-03-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115000025/http://www.esqsec.unibe.ch/pub/pub_51.htm |archive-date=2010-01-15 }}</ref> Pure pyrite is naturally n-type, in both crystal and thin-film forms, potentially due to sulfur vacancies in the pyrite crystal structure acting as n-dopants.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |title=Potential resolution to the doping puzzle in iron pyrite: Carrier type determination by Hall effect and thermopower |author1=Xin Zhang |author2=Mengquin Li |name-list-style=amp |journal=Physical Review Materials |volume=1 |date=2017-06-19 |issue=1 |page=015402 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.1.015402 |bibcode=2017PhRvM...1a5402Z |doi-access=free }}</ref>

During the early years of the 20th&nbsp;century, pyrite was used as a [[Cat's-whisker detector|mineral detector]] in [[radio]] receivers, and is still used by [[crystal radio]] hobbyists. Until the [[vacuum tube]] matured, the crystal detector was the most sensitive and dependable [[detector (radio)|detector]] available—with considerable variation between mineral types and even individual samples within a particular type of mineral. Pyrite detectors occupied a midway point between [[galena]] detectors and the more mechanically complicated [[Cat's-whisker detector#Types|perikon]] mineral pairs. Pyrite detectors can be as sensitive as a modern 1N34A [[germanium]] [[diode]] detector.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSguAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA302 |title=The Principles Underlying Radio Communication |series=Radio Pamphlet |volume=40 |department=U.S. Army Signal Corps |date=1918 |at=section&nbsp;179, pp 302–305 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Thomas H. Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzcMK-2mFQUC&pg=PA4 |title=The Design of Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits |edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=2004 |pages=4–6 |via=Google Books|isbn=9780521835398 }}</ref>

Pyrite has been proposed as an abundant, non-toxic, inexpensive material in low-cost [[photovoltaic]] solar panels.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Materials availability expands the opportunity for large-scale photovoltaics deployment |year=2009 |last1=Wadia |first1=Cyrus |last2=Alivisatos |first2=A. Paul |last3=Kammen |first3=Daniel M. |journal=Environmental Science & Technology |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=2072–7 |doi=10.1021/es8019534 |bibcode=2009EnST...43.2072W |pmid=19368216|s2cid=36725835 }}</ref> Synthetic iron sulfide was used with [[copper sulfide]] to create the photovoltaic material.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/02/17_solar.shtml |title=Cheaper materials could be key to low-cost solar cells |publisher=University of California – Berkeley |location=Berkeley, CA |author=Sanders, Robert |date=17 February 2009}}</ref> More recent efforts are working toward thin-film solar cells made entirely of pyrite.<ref name="auto"/>

Pyrite is used to make [[marcasite jewelry]]. Marcasite jewelry, using small faceted pieces of pyrite, often set in [[silver]], has been made since ancient times and was popular in the [[Victorian era]].<ref>{{cite book|last = Hesse|first = Rayner W.|title = Jewelrymaking Through History: An Encyclopedia|publisher = [[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|year = 2007|page = 15|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IVgU0icm948C&pg=PA15|isbn =978-0-313-33507-5}}</ref> At the time when the term became common in jewelry making, "marcasite" referred to all iron sulfides including pyrite, and not to the orthorhombic FeS<sub>2</sub> mineral [[marcasite]] which is lighter in color, brittle and chemically unstable, and thus not suitable for jewelry making. [[Marcasite jewellery|Marcasite jewelry]] does not actually contain the mineral marcasite. The specimens of pyrite, when it appears as good quality crystals, are used in decoration. They are also very popular in mineral collecting. Among the sites that provide the best specimens are [[Province of Soria|Soria]] and [[La Rioja]] provinces (Spain).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Calvo |first1=Miguel |last2=Sevillano |first2=Emilia |date=1989 |title=Pyrite crystals from Soria and La Rioja provinces, Spain |url=https://mineralogicalrecord.com/back_issues/none-50/ |journal=The Mineralogical Record |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=451–456}}</ref>

In value terms, [[China]] ($47&nbsp;million) constitutes the largest market for imported unroasted iron pyrites worldwide, making up 65% of global imports. China is also the fastest growing in terms of the unroasted iron pyrites imports, with a [[Compound annual growth rate|CAGR]] of +27.8% from 2007 to 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indexbox.io/blog/which-country-imports-the-most-unroasted-iron-pyrites-in-the-world/|title=Which Country Imports the Most Unroasted Iron Pyrites in the World? – IndexBox|website=www.indexbox.io|access-date=2018-09-11}}</ref>