Complexes of fulvic acid on the surface of hematite, goethite, and akaganeite: FTIR observation

The present work extended our knowledge on the binding and complexation of a fulvic acid (FA) derived from leonardite and the iron oxides (hematite, goethite and akaganeite) by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). As a prerequisite, the iron oxides were firstly prepared and characterized by transmission electron micrograph (TEM). All iron phases were single and well-described crystalloid. The FTIR data obtained by two different sampling preparation methods gave the consisting evidences that under our experimental conditions the interaction mechanism was to the ligand-exchange involving carboxylic functional groups of the FA and the surfaces sites of both hematite and goethite, while no complexation can be evidenced in the case of akaganeite, only surface adsorption. In general, the binding affinities of the iron oxides with the FA was in the order of hematite > goethite > akaganeite. The present method, although associated with some uncertainties, provided an opportunity to increase the knowledge in the field of the humic chemistry.