Environmental Science & Technology · 2018 · 38 citations · 42 references
The binding mechanism of Sb(V) on a single-crystal hematite (11̅02) surface was studied using crystal truncation rod X-ray diffraction (CTR) under in situ conditions. The best-fit CTR model indicates Sb(V) adsorbs at the surface as an inner-sphere complex forming a tridentate binding geometry with the nearest Sb-Fe distance of 3.09(4) Å and an average Sb-O bond length of 2.08(5) Å. In this binding geometry, Sb is bound at both edge-sharing and corner-sharing sites of the surface Fe-O octahedral units. The chemical plausibility of the proposed structure was further verified by bond valence analysis, which also deduced a protonation scheme for surface O groups. The stoichiometry of the surface reaction predicts the release of one OH<sup>-</sup> group at pH 5.5.
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