Iron oxyhydroxides are ubiquitous in surface environments, playing a key role in many biogeochemical processes. Their characterization is made challenging by their nanophase nature. Magnetometry serves as a sensitive non-destructive characterization technique that can elucidate intrinsic physical properties, taking advantage of the superparamagnetic behaviour that nanoparticles may exhibit. In this work, synthetic analogues of common iron oxyhydroxide minerals (ferrihydrite, goethite, lepidocrocite, schwertmannite and akaganéite) are characterized using DC and AC magnetometry (cryogenic, room temperature), along with complementary analyses from Mössbauer spectroscopy (cryogenic, room temperature), powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that all of the iron oxyhydroxide mineral nanoparticles, including lepidocrocite, schwertmannite and akaganéite were superparamagnetic and therefore magnetically ordered at room temperature. Previous estimates of Néel temperatures for these three minerals are relatively low and are understood as misinterpreted magnetic blocking temperatures. This has important implications in environmental geoscience due to this mineral group’s potential as magnetic remanence carriers. Analysis of the data enabled the extraction of the intrinsic physical parameters of the nanoparticles, including magnetic sizes. The study also showed the possible effect on these parameters of crystal-chemical variations, due to elemental structural incorporation, providing a nanoscale mineralogical characterization of these iron oxyhydroxides. The analysis of the intrinsic parameters showed that all of the iron oxyhydroxide mineral nanoparticles considered here have a common magnetic moment formation mechanism associated with a random spatial distribution of iv uncompensated magnetic spins, and with different degrees of structural disorder and compositional stoichiometry variability, which give rise to relatively large intrinsic magnetization values. The elucidation of the magnetic nanostructure also contributes to the study of the surface region of the nanoparticles, which affects the particles’ reactivity in the environment.

Iron oxyhydroxides are ubiquitous in surface environments, playing a key role in many biogeochemical processes. Their characterization is made challenging by their nanophase nature. Magnetometry serves as a sensitive non-destructive characterization technique that can elucidate intrinsic physical properties, taking advantage of the superparamagnetic behaviour that nanoparticles may exhibit. In this work, synthetic analogues of common iron oxyhydroxide minerals (ferrihydrite, goethite, lepidocrocite, schwertmannite and akaganéite) are characterized using DC and AC magnetometry (cryogenic, room temperature), along with complementary analyses from Mössbauer spectroscopy (cryogenic, room temperature), powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that all of the iron oxyhydroxide mineral nanoparticles, including lepidocrocite, schwertmannite and akaganéite were superparamagnetic and therefore magnetically ordered at room temperature. Previous estimates of Néel temperatures for these three minerals are relatively low and are understood as misinterpreted magnetic blocking temperatures. This has important implications in environmental geoscience due to this mineral group’s potential as magnetic remanence carriers. Analysis of the data enabled the extraction of the intrinsic physical parameters of the nanoparticles, including magnetic sizes. The study also showed the possible effect on these parameters of crystal-chemical variations, due to elemental structural incorporation, providing a nanoscale mineralogical characterization of these iron oxyhydroxides. The analysis of the intrinsic parameters showed that all of the iron oxyhydroxide mineral nanoparticles considered here have a common magnetic moment formation mechanism associated with a random spatial distribution of iv uncompensated magnetic spins, and with different degrees of structural disorder and compositional stoichiometry variability, which give rise to relatively large intrinsic magnetization values. The elucidation of the magnetic nanostructure also contributes to the study of the surface region of the nanoparticles, which affects the particles’ reactivity in the environment.

Iron oxyhydroxides are ubiquitous in surface environments, playing a key role in many biogeochemical processes. Their characterization is made challenging by their nanophase nature. Magnetometry serves as a sensitive non-destructive characterization technique that can elucidate intrinsic physical properties, taking advantage of the superparamagnetic behaviour that nanoparticles may exhibit. In this work, synthetic analogues of common iron oxyhydroxide minerals (ferrihydrite, goethite, lepidocrocite, schwertmannite and akaganéite) are characterized using DC and AC magnetometry (cryogenic, room temperature), along with complementary analyses from Mössbauer spectroscopy (cryogenic, room temperature), powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that all of the iron oxyhydroxide mineral nanoparticles, including lepidocrocite, schwertmannite and akaganéite were superparamagnetic and therefore magnetically ordered at room temperature. Previous estimates of Néel temperatures for these three minerals are relatively low and are understood as misinterpreted magnetic blocking temperatures. This has important implications in environmental geoscience due to this mineral group’s potential as magnetic remanence carriers. Analysis of the data enabled the extraction of the intrinsic physical parameters of the nanoparticles, including magnetic sizes. The study also showed the possible effect on these parameters of crystal-chemical variations, due to elemental structural incorporation, providing a nanoscale mineralogical characterization of these iron oxyhydroxides. The analysis of the intrinsic parameters showed that all of the iron oxyhydroxide mineral nanoparticles considered here have a common magnetic moment formation mechanism associated with a random spatial distribution of iv uncompensated magnetic spins, and with different degrees of structural disorder and compositional stoichiometry variability, which give rise to relatively large intrinsic magnetization values. The elucidation of the magnetic nanostructure also contributes to the study of the surface region of the nanoparticles, which affects the particles’ reactivity in the environment.

Iron oxyhydroxides are ubiquitous in surface environments, playing a key role in many biogeochemical processes. Their characterization is made challenging by their nanophase nature. Magnetometry serves as a sensitive non-destructive characterization technique that can elucidate intrinsic physical properties, taking advantage of the superparamagnetic behaviour that nanoparticles may exhibit. In this work, synthetic analogues of common iron oxyhydroxide minerals (ferrihydrite, goethite, lepidocrocite, schwertmannite and akaganéite) are characterized using DC and AC magnetometry (cryogenic, room temperature), along with complementary analyses from Mössbauer spectroscopy (cryogenic, room temperature), powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that all of the iron oxyhydroxide mineral nanoparticles, including lepidocrocite, schwertmannite and akaganéite were superparamagnetic and therefore magnetically ordered at room temperature. Previous estimates of Néel temperatures for these three minerals are relatively low and are understood as misinterpreted magnetic blocking temperatures. This has important implications in environmental geoscience due to this mineral group’s potential as magnetic remanence carriers. Analysis of the data enabled the extraction of the intrinsic physical parameters of the nanoparticles, including magnetic sizes. The study also showed the possible effect on these parameters of crystal-chemical variations, due to elemental structural incorporation, providing a nanoscale mineralogical characterization of these iron oxyhydroxides. The analysis of the intrinsic parameters showed that all of the iron oxyhydroxide mineral nanoparticles considered here have a common magnetic moment formation mechanism associated with a random spatial distribution of iv uncompensated magnetic spins, and with different degrees of structural disorder and compositional stoichiometry variability, which give rise to relatively large intrinsic magnetization values. The elucidation of the magnetic nanostructure also contributes to the study of the surface region of the nanoparticles, which affects the particles’ reactivity in the environment.

Iron (oxyhydr)oxide (FeOOH) minerals play important roles in various natural, technological and societal settings. The widespread abundance of these minerals has prompted numerous studies on their surface reactivity in aqueous media. Surface charge development, one that namely takes place through the adsorption of potential determining ions (p.d.i.; H+, OH-) and coadsorption of counterions (e.g. Cl-, ClO4-, Na+), is particularly interesting in this regard. Mineral surface charge development is determined by numerous factors related to the interplay of mineral surface structure, particle morphology and counterion identity. In this thesis the interplay between these factors is resolved by monitoring charge development on submicron-sized synthetic iron oxyhydroxide particles of different structures and sizes in aqueous media with counteranions of contrasting charge-to-size ratio (i.e. NaCl, NaClO4). This work, which is summarized in an introductory chapter and detailed in five appendices, is focused on three types of synthetic lepidocrocite (ã- FeOOH) of different shapes and surface roughness, three types of goethite (á-FeOOH) of different levels of surface roughness, and finally akaganéite (â-FeOOH), a mineral representing unique ion exchange properties due to its hollandite-type structure. While charge development was chiefly monitored by high precisition potentiometric titrations, these efforts were supported by a range of techniques including electrolyte ion uptake by cryogenic X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, particle imaging by (high resolution) transmission electron microscopy, porosity analysis by N2 adsorption/desorption, surface potential development by electrokinetics, as well as thermodynamic adsorption modeling. These efforts showed that lepidocrocite particles of contrasting morphology and surface roughness acquired highly comparable pH and ionic strength p.d.i. loadings. Equilibriation times required to develop these loadings were however altered when particles became aggregated by aging. Goethite particles of contrasting surface roughness also acquired incongruent p.d.i. loadings, which were predominantly explained by the different charge-neutralizing capabilities of these surfaces, some of which were related to pore size distributions controlling the entrance of ions of contrasting sizes. Such size exclusion effects were also noted for the case of akaganéite where its bulk 0.4×0.4 nm wide channels permitted chloride diffusion but blocked perchlorate. Charge development at goethite surfaces in binary mixtures of NaCl and NaClO4 solutions also showed that the larger size-to-charge ratio chloride ion exerted a strong effect on these results even when present as a minor species. Many of these aforementioned effects were also modeled using variable, counterion- and loading-specific, Stern layer capacitance values. The findings summarized in this thesis are providing a better understanding of surface processes occurring at iron oxyhydroxide surfaces. They should impact our ability in designing uses of such particles, for example, effective sorption in aquatic media, as well as to understand how they behave in natural systems.

With the benefits of an ever increasing advance of industrialization around the globe come formidable environmental CO2 . Three environmental problems that have relevance to the research described in this thesis are the 1) buildup of atmospheric CO2 gas through the burning of fossil fuels, 2) eutrophication of aquatic systems, and 3) the acidification of environments from acid mine drainage (AMD) resulting from coal-mining activities. In particular research is presented in this thesis that investigated the surface chemistry of CO2 and phosphate (PO43-) on a suite of environmentally relevant iron oxyhydroxide materials and the chemistry of phospholipid molecules on environmentally relevant iron sulfide surfaces to suppress AMD. To develop a microscopic understanding of the surface chemistry of the different systems, an array of experimental and computational techniques were used in the research. Techniques included X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic adsorption, X-ray diffraction, scanning transmission microscopy with electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM/EDS), ion chromatography (IC), and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR). Results from the latter technique were interpreted with the aid of density function theory (DFT) calculations. Iron oxyhydroxides, which consisted of ferrihydrite (FeOOH), goethite α-FeOOH), ferrimagnetic ferrihydrite (FerriFh), and aluminum-doped iron oxyhydroxide (content from 0-100 mol%) were synthesized and studied before and after exposure to gaseous CO2 , CO32-, and PO43- species. FeOOH and mixed Al/Fe oxyhydroxide surfaces showed high affinities for the formation of carbonate and bicarbonate species upon exposure to gaseous CO2 . Within the Al/Fe oxyhydroxide circumstance, a low Al level of incorporation in the iron oxyhydroxide structure caused a slight increase in surface area and increase in the amount of oxyanion (e.g., CO32- or PO43-) adsorption up to an Al level of 30 mol%. Significant changes were observed in the binding geometry of the adsorbed complexes on the Al/Fe mineral compared to single phase α-FeOOH, AlOOH, and FeOOH surfaces. ATR-FTIR results combined with vibrational frequency (DFT) calculations suggested the formation of multiple phosphate surface complexes via a variety of configurations such as inner-sphere/outer-sphere bidentate, monodentate depending on the solution pH and the Al mol% substituted into the Fe-oxyhydroxide. Studies investigated the adsorption of CO2 on FerriFh and compared those results to CO2 on ferrihydrite. The CO2 pressures used in these particular studies ranged from 1 to 57.8 bars. It is found that citrate bound species, resulting from the synthesis conditions used to make FerriFh, blocked surface sites for the formation of carbonate and bicarbonate species on the magnetic FerriFh and ferrihydrite oxyhydroxide minerals upon CO2 (gas) exposure. A bicarbonate or bent-CO2 like species (~1220 cm-1) formed at lower CO2 pressures (≤ 3.5 bars) but was absent at the higher pressures. Additional studies investigated the adsorption of various phospholipid molecules on pyrite, and iron sulfide with FeS2 stoichiometry. These studies were focused on suppressing the oxidative decomposition of pyrite to sulfuric acid, the root cause of AMD. Batch and column studies were employed to investigate the ability of phospholipids to reduce AMD over an extended period of time (up to 3 years). In studies that used actual coal mining refuse, which contained significant amount of pyrite, it was shown that the rate of acid production from pyrite decomposition could be reduced by as much as 70% due to the presence of surface bound phospholipid. Assembly of the phospholipid into a bilayer motif on the sulfide surface was hypothesized to form a hydrophobic barrier that kept dissolved O2 and bacteria from facilitating the oxidation of FeS2. Column experiments showed that when water at pH 7 was flowed over the coal mining waste, the effluent had a pH close to 3. In contrast when water at pH 7 was flowed over the pyrite containing waste, which was pretreated with lipid, the effluent had a pH closer to 7, and the total amount of Fe (Fe2+/Fe3+) and SO42- in the effluent waters was also reduced relative to the untreated pyrite containing waste circumstance. These studies showed that the application of phospholipid to pyrite containing coal mining waste could potentially be an environmentally friendly remediation technique. / Chemistry