Iron Hopping Iron oxide minerals shuttle electrons around in a wide range of biogeochemical processes. Katz et al. (p. 1200 ) used time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy to take a closer look at how this happens. By using photoionized surface dyes to inject electrons into three different solid oxide phases, they found that electrons hop among iron centers at rates that depend more on structure in their immediate vicinity than on the extended ordering of the crystal lattice. These observations bolster the prevailing small polaron model in which charge carriers associate closely with individual metal sites.

We present classical molecular simulations of the adsorption free energy profiles for the aqueous Fe(II) ion approaching key low index crystal faces of goethite at neutral surface charge conditions. Calculated profiles show minima corresponding to stable outer- and inner-sphere adsorbed structures. We analyzed the energetics and kinetics of most possible interfacial electron transfer reactions, as well as analyzing the same for subsurface migration pathways of injected electrons through calculating the Marcus free energy surfaces. We conclude that inner-sphere Fe(II)-complex formation is required for the interfacial electron transfer to occur, but the energetic cost of moving from the outer-sphere to inner-sphere geometry may prevent electron injection at some faces. We also show that some surfaces, especially (101), (100) and (001), are more energetically prone toward reduction than others. We demonstrate that subsurface charge migration in directions parallel to the surface, which run along the iron chains, is more energetically plausible than conduction through the resistive crystal bulk phase. Collectively this leads to the conclusion that Fe(II)-catalyzed recrystallization of goethite most likely proceeds by short path length electron migration through specific goethite surfaces along specific directions, until capture at Fe sites structurally susceptible to reduction and release.

Electron-transporting multi-heme cytochromes are essential to the metabolism of microbes that inhabit soils and carry out important biogeochemical processes. Recently the first crystal structure of a prototype bacterial deca-heme cytochrome (MtrF) has been resolved and its electrochemistry characterized. However, the molecular details of electron transport along heme chains in the cytochrome are difficult to access via experiment due to the nearly identical chemical nature of the heme cofactors. Here we employ large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to compute the redox potentials of the 10 hemes of MtrF in aqueous solution. We find that as a whole they fall within a range of ∼0.3 V, in agreement with experiment. Individual redox potentials give rise to a free energy profile for electron transport that is approximately symmetric with respect to the center of the protein. Our calculations indicate that there is no significant potential bias along the orthogonal octa-and tetra-heme chains, suggesting that under aqueous conditions MtrF is a nearly reversible two-dimensional conductor.

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) is an important candidate electrode for energy system technologies such as photoelectrochemical water splitting. Conversion efficiency issues with this material are presently being addressed through nanostructuring, doping, and surface modification. However, key electrochemical properties of hematite/electrolyte interfaces remain poorly understood at a fundamental level, in particular those of crystallographically well-defined hematite faces likely present as interfacial components at the grain scale. We report a combined measurement and theory study that isolates and evaluates the equilibrium surface potentials of three nearly defect-free single crystal faces of hematite, titrated from pH 3 to 11.25. We link measured surface potentials with atomic-scale surface topology, namely the ratio and distributions of surface protonation-deprotonation site types expected from the bulk structure. The data reveal face-specific points of zero potential (PZP) relatable to points of zero net charge (PZC) that lie within a small pH window (8.35-8.85). Over the entire pH range the surface potentials show strong non-Nernstian charging at pH extremes separated by a wide central plateau in agreement with surface complexation modeling predictions, but with important face-specific distinctions. We introduce a new surface complexation model based on fitting the entire data set that depends primarily only on the proton affinities of two site types and the two associated electrical double layer capacitances. The data and model show that magnitudes of surface potential biases at the pH extremes are on the order of 100 mV, similar to the activation energy for electron hopping mobility. An energy band diagram for hematite crystallites with specific face expression and pH effects is proposed that could provide a baseline for understanding water splitting performance enhancement effects from nanostructuring, and guide morphology targets and pH for systematic improvements in efficiency.

No abstract

Reaction rates of environmental processes occurring at hydrated mineral surfaces are in part controlled by the electrostatic potential that develops at the interface. This potential depends on the structure of exposed crystal faces as well as the pH and the type of ions and their interactions with these faces. Despite its importance, experimental methods for determining fundamental electrostatic properties of specific crystal faces such as the point of zero charge are few. Here we show that this information may be obtained from simple, cyclic potentiometric titration using a well-characterized single-crystal electrode exposing the face of interest. The method exploits the presence of a hysteresis loop in the titration measurements that allows the extraction of key electrostatic descriptors using the Maxwell construction. The approach is demonstrated for hematite (α-Fe(2)O(3)) (001), and thermodynamic proof is provided for the resulting estimate of its point of zero charge. Insight gained from this method will aid in predicting the fate of migrating contaminants, mineral growth/dissolution processes, and mineral-microbiological interactions and in testing surface complexation theories.

The interaction of Fe(II) with ferric oxide/oxyhydroxide phases is central to the biogeochemical redox chemistry of iron. Molecular simulation techniques were employed to determine the mechanisms and quantify the rates of Fe(II) oxidative adsorption at the hematite (001)-water interface. Molecular dynamics potential of mean force calculations of Fe(II) adsorbing on the hematite surface revealed the presence of three free energy minima corresponding to Fe(II) adsorbed in an outersphere complex, a monodentate innersphere complex, and a tridentate innersphere complex. The free energy barrier for adsorption from the outersphere position to the monodentate innersphere site was calculated to be similar to the activation enthalpy for water exchange around aqueous Fe(II). Adsorption at both innersphere sites was predicted to be unfavorable unless accompanied by release of protons. Molecular dynamics umbrella sampling simulations and ab initio cluster calculations were performed to determine the rates of electron transfer from Fe(II) adsorbed as an innersphere and outersphere complex. The electron transfer rates were calculated to range from 10 -4 to 10 2 s -1 , depending on the adsorption site and the Page 1 of 43 ACS Paragon Plus EnvironmentThe Journal of Physical Chemistry 2 potential parameter set, and were generally slower than those obtained in the bulk hematite lattice. The most reliable estimate of the rate of electron transfer from Fe(II) adsorbed as an outersphere complex to lattice Fe(III) was commensurate with the rate of adsorption as an innersphere complex suggesting that adsorption does not necessarily need to precede oxidation.

Iron(III) oxalate, Fe 3+ (C 2 O 4) 3 3-, is a photoactive metal organic complex found in natural systems and used to quantify photon flux as a result of its high absorbance and reaction quantum yield. It also serves as a model complex to understand metal carboxylate complex photolysis because the mechanism of photolysis and eventual production of CO 2 is not well understood for any system. We employed pump/probe midinfrared transient absorption spectroscopy to study the photolysis reaction of the iron(III) oxalate ion in D 2 O and H 2 O up to 3 ns following photoexcitation. We find that intramolecular electron transfer from oxalate to iron occurs on a subpicosecond time scale, creating iron(II) complexed by one oxidized and two spectator oxalate ligands. Within 40 ps following electron transfer, the oxidized oxalate molecule dissociates to form free solvated CO 2(aq) and a species inferred to be CO 2 •-based on the appearance of a new vibrational absorption band and ab initio simulation. This work provides direct spectroscopic evidence for the first mechanistic steps in the photolysis reaction and presents a technique to analyze other environmentally relevant metal carboxylate photolysis reactions.