After radionuclides pollution of soils by nuclear power plant accidents, Cs + strongly interacts with swelling clay minerals, which in turn control the fixation or the migration of this pollutant in the natural media. Little is known, however, about the role played by the amount of layer charge and the two-dimensional confinement on Cs + fixation. In this study a series of tetrahedrally charged smectites with structural formula inter [M + x ] oct [Mg 6 ] tet [Si 8−x Al x ]O 20 (OH) 4 with a layer charge (x) varying from 0.8 to 2.0 and with Na + or Cs + as interlayer cation M + were used. While Na + remains fully exchangeable over the entire range of layer charges investigated, the fraction of exchangeable Cs + decreased gradually for samples with x ≥1.4/O 20 (OH) 4. Structure analysis of Cs +-samples in water-saturated or at 80% relative humidity conditions showed a gradual decrease of the layer-to-layer distance. The results were found to qualitatively agree with analysis of the thermodynamics of the clay/water interfaces derived from molecular simulations. Quantitative structure analysis by modeling of 00ℓ reflections on experimental Xray diffraction patterns suggested that exchangeable Cs + can be correlated with the amount of hydrated interlayers, whereas fixed Cs + in these conditions corresponds to the amount of collapsed layers. To describe the coexistence of both exchangeable and fixed Cs + , a toy-model accounting for the presence of heterogeneous charge distribution was used, in agreement with experimental data obtained on these samples. This model successfully interprets the overall reactivity of Cs + towards smectite over a large range of layer charge values and may contribute to an improved description of Cs + mobility in contaminated soil environments. Water density profile Z-position (Å) Sodium density profile Water density profile Z-position (Å) Cesium density profile Water density profile Z-position (Å) Sodium density profile Water density profile Z-position (Å) Cesium density profile a. Na-Sap-0.8 c. Na-Sap-1.8 b. Cs-Sap-0.8 d. Cs-Sap-1.8
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.