Molecular-Based Studies of Geochemical Interfaces in Complex Environments
Abstract
Understanding fundamental processes that occur in our water systems is important if we are to predict and mitigate any harm. In particular, what occurs on geochemical interfaces can often be the factors that control many environmental processes which are critical to water quality and treatment as well as the fate and transport of contaminants. It is well known that the chemistry at these interfaces is complex due to the presence of many different components present in water systems. In these studies, a multi-prong approach is proposed to understand geochemical interfaces in complex environments and their role in the transformation of volatile chemical products recently detected in abundance in air. Although these compounds are initially found in air, some of these can easily partition into water systems. Therefore, we are interested in studying how these type of chemicals interact with different geochemical interfaces in the aqueous phase. The goal of the proposed activities will be to better understand molecular processes on geochemical interfaces and to better understand the chemistry that occurs at geochemical interfaces in complex multi-component environments. Delineation of the molecular steps and processes of surface adsorption/desorption, surface displacement and surface catalysis is important if a fundamental understanding of geochemical interfaces in complex environments and the transformation of chemical contaminants on geochemical interfaces can be achieved. The two main objectives of this research are to: (i) develop and integrate different vibrational spectroscopies to study the chemistry of geochemical interfaces in complex media that contain natural organic matter, oxyanions and biological components and; (ii) investigate transformations of key chemical products on geochemical interfaces under different conditions. We plan to build up chemical complexity by investigating multi-component adsorption at the aqueous geochemical interface using vibrational spectroscopy as a probe. In addition, we propose to develop new methods to study the chemistry of geochemical interfaces. In particular, we plan to combine Attenuated Total ReflectionÐFourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy with Atomic Force Microscopy-Infrared (AFM-IR) spectroscopy and Sum Frequency Generation (SFG) to investigate a range of components found in aqueous-geochemical systems. Integrating these approaches will be particularly helpful in discerning the nature of these interactions at geochemical interface that are important to water quality and the fate and transport of contaminants.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 14, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1910078
Entities
People
- Vicki Grassian
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- University of California, San Diego