XPS and XAS studies of copper(II) sorbed onto a synthetic pyrite surface

Compounds containing copper are likely candidates to delay iodide migration in environmental media through the formation of sparingly soluble phases. Preliminary experiments showed that iodide was neither sorbed onto chalcopyrite nor by a binary system pyrite/copper(II), although significant amounts of copper were present at the pyrite surface. In the present study, spectroscopic studies (XPS, XANES and EXAFS) were thus performed to determine the nature of sorbed copper species. Although introduced as Cu(II), copper was mainly present at the oxidation state (I) on the pyrite surface suggesting a heterogeneous reduction process. Moreover, copper appeared tetrahedrally coordinated to two sulfur and two oxygen atoms onto the pyrite surface, a chemical environment, which seemingly stabilized the metal and made it unreactive towards iodide.