Mineral-Aqueous Solution Interfaces and Their Impact on the Environment

Interfacial reactions drive all elemental cycling on Earth and play pivotal roles in human activities such as agriculture, water purification, energy production and storage, environmental contaminant remediation, and nuclear waste repository management. The onset of the 21st century marked the beginning of a more detailed understanding of mineral aqueous interfaces enabled by advances in techniques that use tunable high-flux focused ultrafast laser and X-ray sources to provide near-atomic measurement resolution, as well as by nanofabrication approaches that enable transmission electron microscopy in a liquid cell. This leap into atomic-and nanometer-scale measurements has uncovered scale-dependent phenomena whose reaction thermodynamics, kinetics, and pathways deviate from previous observations made on larger systems. A second key advance is new experimental evidence for what scientists hypothesized but could not test previously, namely, interfacial chemical reactions are frequently driven by "anomalies" or "non-idealities" such as defects, nanoconfinement, and other nontypical chemical structures. Third, progress in computational chemistry has yielded new insights that allow a move beyond simple schematics, leading to a molecular model of these complex interfaces. In combination with surfacesensitive measurements, we have gained knowledge of the interfacial structure and dynamics, including the underlying solid surface and the immediately adjacent water and aqueous ions, enabling a better definition of what constitutes the oxide− and silicate−water interfaces. This critical review discusses how science progresses from understanding ideal solid−water interfaces to more realistic systems, focusing on accomplishments in the last 20 years and identifying challenges and future opportunities for the community to address. We anticipate that the next 20 years will focus on understanding and predicting dynamic transient and reactive structures over greater spatial and temporal ranges as well as systems of greater structural and chemical complexity. Closer collaborations of theoretical and experimental experts across disciplines will continue to be critical to achieving this great aspiration.

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Section: Theme 2: Adsorption and Reactions At Interfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxide– and Silicate–Water Interfaces and Their Roles in Technology and the Environment

et al. 2023

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“…Colloidal-phase DOM and TE-bearing particles that are <1 m in size, but are reversibly adsorbed to larger particles that are >1 m in size, are still considered colloidal, because they have the potential for desorption and therefore return to the colloidal phase (Buffle and Leppard 1995a;Buffle et al 1998;Ranville and Schmiermund 1999;Lead and Wilkinson 2006). These adsorption reactions are highly complex and exhibit nonlinear phenomena such as variation depending on DOM type and concentration, concentration-dependent competition for adsorption sites, and adsorption hysteresis (Förstner and Salomons 1983;Turner 1995;Murphy et al 1999;Smith 1999;Brown and Parks 2001;Warren and Haack 2001;Schmitt et al 2002;Violante et al 2003;Perelomov et al 2011;Brown and Calas 2013;Gaillardet et al 2014;Polubesova and Chefetz 2014;Lynch et al 2014). Thus, desorption may occur when physicochemical conditions change (e.g., pH, ionic strength, DOM concentration, redox state/conditions), releasing the TE to interact with aquatic organisms.…”

Section: Additional Colloidal Considerations For Lability and Bioaccementioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemical and biological controls on the ecological relevance of total, dissolved, and colloidal forms of trace elements in large boreal rivers: review and case studies

et al. 2020

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The concentrations of trace elements (TEs) in large boreal rivers can fluctuate markedly due to changing water levels and flow rates associated with spring melt and variable contributions from tributaries and groundwaters, themselves having different compositions. These fluctuating and frequently high concentrations create regulatory challenges for protecting aquatic life. For example, water quality criteria do not account for changes in flow regimes that can result in TE levels that may exceed regulatory limits, and neither do they account for the markedly different lability and bioaccessibility of suspended solids. This review addresses the geochemical and biological processes that govern the lability and bioaccessibility of TEs in boreal rivers, with an emphasis on the challenges posed by the colloidal behaviour of many TEs, and their relationship to the dissolved fraction (i.e., <0.45 μm in size). After reviewing the processes and dynamics that give rise to the forms and behaviour of TEs in large boreal rivers, their relevance for aquatic organisms and the associated relationships between size and lability and bioaccessibility are discussed. The importance of biological variables and different forms of TEs for limiting lability and bioaccessibility are also addressed. Two case studies emphasize seasonal fluctuations and accompanying changes in the distribution of TE amongst different size fractions and associated colloidal species in large boreal rivers: the Northern Dvina and one of its tributaries, the Pinega River, both in Russia, and the Athabasca River in Alberta, Canada. Water quality in the Athabasca River is briefly discussed with respect to Canadian guidelines.

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“…The abundance of biofilms in a broad range of environments highlights the importance of improving our knowledge concerning their action on the chemistry of pollutants and, in particular, on metal immobilization into insoluble minerals. Mineral nucleation and precipitation can indeed be favored by abundant metal-binding sites in the microbial cell outer-membrane or in the EPS (Brown and Calas, 2012). Mineralization on EPS produced by cells in biofilms frequently occurs in natural environments (Benzerara et al, 2011;Chan et al, 2009;Ghiorse, 1984;Miot et al, 2009).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental assessment of occurrences and stability of lead-bearing minerals in bacterial biofilms

et al. 2019

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Bio-induced precipitation of lead-bearing minerals is investigated in bacterial biofilms grown by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 under aerobic conditions. Under the different conditions investigated, thermodynamic calculations establish that the stable mineral phases expected to precipitate are either wulfenite PbMoO 4 or cerussite PbCO 3. However, observations by electron microscopy show that the first solids precipitated within hours at the experimental solution/biofilm interface are crystals of about 20 nm in diameter of pyromorphite Pb 5 (PO 4) 3 (OH,Cl). In Mo-bearing systems, the precipitation of the thermodynamicallypredicted wulfenite phase is delayed compared to the abiotic experiment and is observed only after 7 days of lead exposure. The initial lead phosphate crystals observed on the extracellular polymeric substances are assumed to result from concurrent local abundances of adsorbed Pb 2+ ions and phosphate groups released by metabolically active cells. Scanning electron microscopy observations of samples milled by focused ion beam reveal effective diffusionlimited precipitation of pyromorphite within the well-preserved biofilm porosity.

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Mineral-Aqueous Solution Interfaces and Their Impact on the Environment

Cited by 75 publications

References 500 publications

Oxide– and Silicate–Water Interfaces and Their Roles in Technology and the Environment

Oxide– and Silicate–Water Interfaces and Their Roles in Technology and the Environment

Geochemical and biological controls on the ecological relevance of total, dissolved, and colloidal forms of trace elements in large boreal rivers: review and case studies

Experimental assessment of occurrences and stability of lead-bearing minerals in bacterial biofilms

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