In recent years, concerns of silver toxicity have been raised due to popular applications of silver nanoparticles to many consumer products as an antimicrobial agent. As silver nanoparticles enter the environment, there is a great risk for silver to adversely affect human and ecological health.  Understanding the fate and transport of silver/silver nanoparticles in aquatic-terrestrial environments becomes critical in regulating its use and assessing the risk. While recent studies showed the ligand complexation and ligand/proton promoted dissolution of silver nanoparticle to predict the bioavailability/solubility of silver in aqueous systems, aqueous interfacial chemistry of ionic silver on sediment mineral surfaces has not been extensively investigated. Therefore, the mobility of silver in terrestrial environment is not well understood. In this study, we investigated partitioning mechanisms of ionic silver in common sediment/soil minerals, metal oxyhydroxides, using experimental geochemistry and in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Aqueous interfacial chemistry of silver on metal oxyhydroxide surfaces

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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