Characterization of imogolite-type nanoparticles in Podzols: morphology and association with iron

Imogolite-type nanoparticles (ITN) are among the most extensively studied particles present in the Bs horizons of Podzols, as they are strongly associated with the adsorption processes of different anions in soils, including phosphate. The aim of this study was to assess the properties of ITN in soi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tove Florén, Manuel Bartolomé Díaz, Geert Cornelis, Stephen Hillier, Jon Petter Gustafsson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:Geoderma
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125002149
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850113947940683776
author Tove Florén
Manuel Bartolomé Díaz
Geert Cornelis
Stephen Hillier
Jon Petter Gustafsson
author_facet Tove Florén
Manuel Bartolomé Díaz
Geert Cornelis
Stephen Hillier
Jon Petter Gustafsson
author_sort Tove Florén
collection DOAJ
description Imogolite-type nanoparticles (ITN) are among the most extensively studied particles present in the Bs horizons of Podzols, as they are strongly associated with the adsorption processes of different anions in soils, including phosphate. The aim of this study was to assess the properties of ITN in soil, in order to increase the current knowledge of ITN regarding adsorption models. ITN were isolated from the B horizons of three Swedish Podzols and characterised in terms of size distribution, morphology, elemental composition, and association with iron. Appreciable amounts of ITN were found in two of the three soil samples studied, reaching up to 14 % ITN by mass if all oxalate-extractable Si is assigned to ITN. Furthermore, substantial amounts of Fe were also present in the selected soil samples. Proto-imogolite (PIM) was the predominant form of ITN, suggesting that tubular imogolite have a lower contribution for ion adsorption reactions in Podzols. Three types of PIM morphology were identified: structureless amorphous clusters, fragmented nanotubes, and globular aggregates. The studied PIM, which exhibited a particle size around 50 nm, contained up to 19 % Fe, while no detectable amounts of Fe were found in tubular imogolite. Regarding PIM, Fe atoms were evenly distributed in the structure, providing evidence for the presence of a substituted and/or surface-adsorbed Fe phase, rather than large ferrihydrite clusters. The present study provides novel insights into the properties of ITN and its association with Fe, which will aid in the development of models predicting the fate of oxyanions in Podzols and other ITN-containing soils.
format Article
id doaj-art-58a1cb922cbd4173a06cdc97fe4cf364
institution OA Journals
issn 1872-6259
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Geoderma
spelling doaj-art-58a1cb922cbd4173a06cdc97fe4cf3642025-08-20T02:37:02ZengElsevierGeoderma1872-62592025-07-0145911737610.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117376Characterization of imogolite-type nanoparticles in Podzols: morphology and association with ironTove Florén0Manuel Bartolomé Díaz1Geert Cornelis2Stephen Hillier3Jon Petter Gustafsson4Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O Box 7014, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden; Corresponding author.Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Technology, Faculty of Chemical Science and Technology, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 1307 Ciudad Real, SpainDepartment of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O Box 7014, SE-75007 Uppsala, SwedenDepartment of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O Box 7014, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden; The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, United KingdomDepartment of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O Box 7014, SE-75007 Uppsala, SwedenImogolite-type nanoparticles (ITN) are among the most extensively studied particles present in the Bs horizons of Podzols, as they are strongly associated with the adsorption processes of different anions in soils, including phosphate. The aim of this study was to assess the properties of ITN in soil, in order to increase the current knowledge of ITN regarding adsorption models. ITN were isolated from the B horizons of three Swedish Podzols and characterised in terms of size distribution, morphology, elemental composition, and association with iron. Appreciable amounts of ITN were found in two of the three soil samples studied, reaching up to 14 % ITN by mass if all oxalate-extractable Si is assigned to ITN. Furthermore, substantial amounts of Fe were also present in the selected soil samples. Proto-imogolite (PIM) was the predominant form of ITN, suggesting that tubular imogolite have a lower contribution for ion adsorption reactions in Podzols. Three types of PIM morphology were identified: structureless amorphous clusters, fragmented nanotubes, and globular aggregates. The studied PIM, which exhibited a particle size around 50 nm, contained up to 19 % Fe, while no detectable amounts of Fe were found in tubular imogolite. Regarding PIM, Fe atoms were evenly distributed in the structure, providing evidence for the presence of a substituted and/or surface-adsorbed Fe phase, rather than large ferrihydrite clusters. The present study provides novel insights into the properties of ITN and its association with Fe, which will aid in the development of models predicting the fate of oxyanions in Podzols and other ITN-containing soils.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125002149Imogolite-type nanoparticlesProto-imogoliteSingle-particle ICP-MSTEMEDSPodzols
spellingShingle Tove Florén
Manuel Bartolomé Díaz
Geert Cornelis
Stephen Hillier
Jon Petter Gustafsson
Characterization of imogolite-type nanoparticles in Podzols: morphology and association with iron
Geoderma
Imogolite-type nanoparticles
Proto-imogolite
Single-particle ICP-MS
TEM
EDS
Podzols
title Characterization of imogolite-type nanoparticles in Podzols: morphology and association with iron
title_full Characterization of imogolite-type nanoparticles in Podzols: morphology and association with iron
title_fullStr Characterization of imogolite-type nanoparticles in Podzols: morphology and association with iron
title_full_unstemmed Characterization of imogolite-type nanoparticles in Podzols: morphology and association with iron
title_short Characterization of imogolite-type nanoparticles in Podzols: morphology and association with iron
title_sort characterization of imogolite type nanoparticles in podzols morphology and association with iron
topic Imogolite-type nanoparticles
Proto-imogolite
Single-particle ICP-MS
TEM
EDS
Podzols
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125002149
work_keys_str_mv AT tovefloren characterizationofimogolitetypenanoparticlesinpodzolsmorphologyandassociationwithiron
AT manuelbartolomediaz characterizationofimogolitetypenanoparticlesinpodzolsmorphologyandassociationwithiron
AT geertcornelis characterizationofimogolitetypenanoparticlesinpodzolsmorphologyandassociationwithiron
AT stephenhillier characterizationofimogolitetypenanoparticlesinpodzolsmorphologyandassociationwithiron
AT jonpettergustafsson characterizationofimogolitetypenanoparticlesinpodzolsmorphologyandassociationwithiron