Quantification of rapid environmental redox processes with quick-scanning x-ray absorption spectroscopy (Q-XAS)

Quantification of the initial rates of environmental reactions at the mineral/water interface is a fundamental prerequisite to determining reaction mechanisms and contaminant transport modeling and predicting environmental risk. Until recently, experimental techniques with adequate time resolution and elemental sensitivity to measure initial rates of the wide variety of environmental reactions were quite limited. Techniques such as electron paramagnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies suffer from limited elemental specificity and poor sensitivity to inorganic elements, respectively. Ex situ analysis of batch and stirred-flow systems provides high elemental sensitivity; however, their time resolution is inadequate to characterize rapid environmental reactions. Here we apply quick-scanning x-ray absorption spectroscopy (Q-XAS), at sub-second time-scales, to measure the initial oxidation rate of As(III) to As(V) by hydrous manganese(IV) oxide. Using Q-XAS, As(III) and As(V) concentrations were determined every 0.98 s in batch reactions. The initial apparent As(III) depletion rate constants (t < 30 s) measured with Q-XAS are nearly twice as large as rate constants measured with traditional analytical techniques. Our results demonstrate the importance of developing analytical techniques capable of analyzing environmental reactions on the same time scale as they occur. Given the high sensitivity, elemental specificity, and time resolution of Q-XAS, it has many potential applications. They could include measuring not only redox reactions but also dissolution/precipitation reactions, such as the formation and/or reductive dissolution of Fe(III) (hydr)oxides, solid-phase transformations (i.e., formation of layered-double hydroxide minerals), or almost any other reaction occurring in aqueous media that can be measured using x-ray absorption spectroscopy.