Dissolution and Retention Process of CeO₂ Nanoparticles in Soil with Dynamic Redox Conditions

Abstract

The time-course association of soil physicochemical properties and fate of CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) is not well understood. This study for the first time investigated the dissolution and retention of CeO2 NPs (<25 nm) during soil short-term (6 h) and long-term (30 d) aging processes with dynamic redox conditions. Under the additional reductant-induced initial reductive condition, theoretically, up to 220‰ of Ce(IV) was temporarily reductively dissolved within 10 min, accompanied by a slow retention process (180 min) of Ce species in soil solutions. Conversely, the dissolution and slow retention of Ce species were not significant in soil solutions without added reductant. X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) shows that most of Ce species were present as Ce(IV) (94.0%–97.8%) in all soils after a long-term aging process. These results indicate that the soil dynamic redox conditions induced by oxidant/reductant intrinsically determined the different time-course dissolution and retention of CeO2 NPs, highlighting the occasional reductive condition in soil solution that may contribute to the migration and diffusion of Ce species. The time-course study should be also adopted to develop a comprehensive understanding of the nano-soil interactions.