Structural controls on OH site availability and reactivity at iron oxyhydroxide particle surfaces

Iron oxyhydroxides (FeOOH) are highly reactive minerals of widespread occurrence in natural and industrial settings. These minerals chiefly occur as nano- to submicron-sized particles and are covered by hydroxyl functional groups coordinated to one (-OH), two (μ-OH), or three (μ3-OH) underlying iron atoms. These groups are reaction centers for gases, solutes as well as solvents and thereby play important roles in the fate and transformation of natural and industrial compounds. In this work we provide tools to identify hydroxyl groups on distinct crystallographic planes of two important FeOOH polymorphs, namely lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH) and goethite (α-FeOOH). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to monitor O–H stretching vibrations of groups on particles with well-defined and distinct morphologies. Spectral responses to proton loadings and thermal gradients were used to assign bands to hydroxyl groups. These efforts were facilitated by the extraction of pure spectral components obtained by multivariate curve resolution. Molecular dynamics simulations of dominant crystallographic planes of the particles guided band assignment procedures by identifying feasible hydrogen bond networks between surface groups. Our findings provide new possibilities for molecular-scale resolution of important gas-phase processes on the surfaces of these important minerals.