nC60 deposition kinetics: the complex contribution of humic acid, ion concentration, and valence

The demonstrated toxicity coupled with inevitable environmental release of nC60 raise serious concerns about its environmental fate and transport, therefore it is crucial to understand how nC60 will interact with subsurface materials including attached phase soil and sediment organic matter (AP-SOM). This study investigated the attachment of nC60 onto a Harpeth humic acid (HHA) coated silica surface under various solution conditions using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring. The HHA coating greatly enhanced nC60 attachment at low ion concentrations while hindering attachment at high ion concentrations in the presence of both mono and divalent cations. At low ion concentrations, the HHA greatly reduced the surface potential of the silica, enhancing nC60 deposition through reduction in the electrostatic repulsion. At high ion concentrations however, the reduced surface potential became less important due to the near zero energy barrier to deposition and therefore non-DLVO forces dominated, induced by compaction of the HHA layer, and leading to hindered attachment. In this manner, observed contributions from the HHA layer were more complex than previously reported and by monitoring surface charge and calculated DLVO interaction energy alongside attachment experiments, this study advances the mechanistic understanding of the variable attachment contributions from the humic acid layer.