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. 2023 Nov 30;9(12):e22931. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22931

Table 2.

Chemical properties of soil clay minerals, Fe-, Al- (hydr)oxides, and organic matter.

Species Layer charge (eq/mol; half unit-cell) Surface charge density (C/m2) CEC (cmol/kg) PZC Surface functional groups References
Clay minerals
Smectite 0.5-1.2 [51] 0.12 [66] 70–150 [67] ∼8.0 [52] > X (structural charged sites on basal and interlayer surfaces)
> SiOH; > AlOH (silanol groups at edge)
[52,59,68]
Vermiculite 1.2-1.8 [51] 0.248 [69] 100-150 [67] 8.5 [68]
Illite 1.4-2.0 [51] 0.49 [66] 10–40 [67] 2.5 [60] > XNa+ (cation exchange on the planar sites)
> SiOH; > AlOH (surface complexation reactions)
[60]
Chlorite 1.2–2.6 [51] 0.56 [66] 10–40 [67] <3 [70] > Si2O (cation exchange on the illite-like face)
> Al2–OH (brucite-like or gibbsite-like sheet)
> SiOH; > Al(Mg)–OH (silanol groups at edge)
[70]
Kaolinite <0.01 [51] 0.064 [66] 3–15 [67] 5-6 [54] > SiOH; > AlOH (edge surface)
> Al2–OH (gibbsite-like sheet)
[54]
(Hydr)oxides Stern layer capacitance (F/m2)
Goethite 1.7 [71] 8.5 [72] > FeOH (surface groups)
> Fe3OH (Fe at double octahedra chains or at junction of two double Fe octahedra chains)
[72]
Hematite 1.3 [73] 8.1 [74] > Fe–O (Lewis acid Fe surface sites) [74,75]
Ferrihydrite 1.17 [71] 8.2 [76] > FeOH (surface groups)
> Fe3O (Fe octahedra at corner of two faces)
[76]
Gibbsite 1.4 [71] 5.7 [77] > AlOH (edge surface groups) [77]
Organic matter
Acidic functional groups R−COOH → R−COO + H+ (carboxyl, R: aliphatic or aromatic carbon structure)
Ar−OH → Ar−O + H+ (phenolic-OH, Ar: aromatic structure)
[65]
Neutral functional groups and structures Carbonyl (in esters, ketones, aldehydes, and anhydrides)
Aliphatic-OH (alcoholic-OH)
Aliphatic and aromatic ether
Quinone (aromatic carbonyl)
[65]
Basic compounds by proton complexation R–NH20 + H+R−NH3+ (R: amide, imine, aromatic ring nitrogen) [65]

Notes: >X represents the permanent structural charged sites, and the ion exchange reaction is described by: >XH + Na+ >XNa + H+.