The pastes used for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) experiments were prepared following the same procedure as for SAOS and in-situ XRD measurements. The pastes were stored in tightly sealed plastic cups with a wet cloth between the lid and the cup to prevent evaporation during the hydration process. Hydration was stopped using the solvent exchange method with isopropanol, following the recommendations of Mantellato et al. and Snellings et al. . After 3 h, 5 g of the pastes were immersed in 50 mL of cold isopropanol. The mixture was stirred for 15 min. The mixture was then poured onto a Büchner filter equipped with a polyamide filter (mesh size 0.20 µm), and the isopropanol was removed. The residue was rinsed twice using cold isopropanol. The filter paper and residue were placed in a crystallization dish and dried for two days at room temperature under a dry nitrogen flow.