Surface speciation of phosphate on goethite as seen by InfraRed Surface Titrations (IRST).

Phosphate adsorption at the metal oxide-water interface has been intensely studied, and the system phosphate-goethite in aqueous media is normally used as a model system with abundant information regarding adsorption-desorption under very different conditions. In spite of this, there is still discussion on whether the main inner-sphere surface complexes that phosphate forms on goethite are monodentate or bidentate. A new spectroscopic technique, InfraRed Surface Titration (IRST), is presented here and used to systematically explore the surface speciation of phosphate on goethite in the pH range 4.

Arsenate adsorption and desorption kinetics on a Fe(III)-modified montmorillonite.

The adsorption-desorption kinetics of arsenate on a Fe(III)-modified montmorillonite (Fe-M) was studied at different arsenate concentrations, pH and stirring rates. The synthesized solid was a porous sample with Fe(III) present as a mix of monomeric and polymeric Fe(III) species in the interlayer and on the external surface. Adsorption took place in a two-step mechanism, with an initial fast binding of arsenate to Fe(III) species at the external surface (half-lives of 1 min or shorter) followed by a slower binding to less accessible Fe(III) species in pores and the interlayer (half-lives of around 1 h).