Roles of cation valance and exchange on the retention and colloid-facilitated transport of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes in a natural soil

Abstract

Saturated soil column experiments were conducted to investigate the transport, retention, and release behavior of a low concentration (1 mg L−1) of functionalized 14C-labeled multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a natural soil under various solution chemistries. Breakthrough curves (BTCs) for MWCNTS exhibited greater amounts of retardation and retention with increasing solution ionic strength (IS) or in the presence of Ca2+ in comparison to K+, and retention profiles (RPs) for MWCNTs were hyper-exponential in shape. These BTCs and RPs were well described using the advection-dispersion equation with a term for time- and depth-dependent retention. Fitted values of the retention rate coefficient and the maximum retained concentration of MWCNTs were higher with increasing IS and in the presence of Ca2+ in comparison to K+. Significant amounts of MWCNT and soil colloid release was observed with a reduction of IS due to expansion of the electrical double layer, especially following cation exchange (when K+ displaced Ca2+) that reduced the zeta potential of MWCNTs and the soil. Analysis of MWCNT concentrations in different soil size fractions revealed that >23.6% of the retained MWCNT mass was associated with water-dispersible colloids (WDCs), even though this fraction was only a minor portion of the total soil mass (2.38%). More MWCNTs were retained on the WDC fraction in the presence of Ca2+ than K+. These findings indicated that some of the released MWCNTs by IS reduction and cation exchange were associated with the released clay fraction, and suggests the potential for facilitated transport of MWCNT by WDCs.