Early-stage precipitation kinetics of zinc sulfide nanoclusters forming in the presence of cysteine

Nanoparticulate metal sulfides such as ZnS are important for the speciation of pollutant metals in sediments, wastewater effluent, and other sulfidic environments. In these settings, particles of ZnS are formed in the presence of natural organic acids such as humic substances, proteins and other bio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical geology 2012-11, Vol.329 (SI), p.10-17
Main Authors: Gondikas, Andreas P., Masion, Armand, Auffan, Melanie, Lau, Boris L.T., Hsu-Kim, Heileen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
absorption
Cluster
cysteine
Environmental Sciences
EXAFS
humic acids
light scattering
Metal sulfide
Nanoparticle
nanoparticles
Natural organic matter
proteins
SAXS
sediments
spectroscopy
sulfides
thiols
wastewater
X-radiation
zinc
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Summary:Nanoparticulate metal sulfides such as ZnS are important for the speciation of pollutant metals in sediments, wastewater effluent, and other sulfidic environments. In these settings, particles of ZnS are formed in the presence of natural organic acids such as humic substances, proteins and other biomolecules that will interfere with cluster growth and aggregation kinetics. Thiol-containing organics such as cysteine are capable of adsorbing to clusters and nanoparticles of metal sulfides as they precipitate from solution. The thiols induce electrostatic repulsive forces at particle interfaces resulting in slow aggregation rates. The aim of this work was to investigate how cysteine influences the nucleation and growth rate of ZnS during early stages (less than one day) of precipitation. Results from time-resolved small angle X-ray scattering and dynamic light scattering confirmed that cysteine altered the ZnS precipitation process by decreasing aggregation rates of polynuclear ZnS clusters (smallest size
ISSN:0009-2541
1872-6836
DOI:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2011.06.009