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DOE OSTI · 3013772

Mineral dissolution by dimeric complexes

Li, Xiaoxu [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000290763057)·Guo, Qing [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)]·Zhao, Yatong [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Nanjing Univ. (China)]·Qian, Chang [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)]·Pouvreau, Maxime [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000290155086)·Graham, Trent R. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000189078004)·Chen, Ping [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)]·Liu, Lili [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000295954303)·Liu, Chang [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)]·Legg, Benjamin A. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)]·Chen, Qian [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)]·Miao, Aijun [Nanjing Univ. (China)] (ORCID:0000000176812038)·Wang, Zheming [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000219864357)·De Yoreo, James J. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)]·Pearce, Carolyn I. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)]·Clark, Aurora E. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)]·Rosso, Kevin M. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000284747720)·Zhang, Xin [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:000000032000858X)
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Abstract

Mineral dissolution is typically thought to occur by the detachment of monomeric building blocks of the crystal structure, although direct evidence is rare. Using in situ high-speed atomic force microscopy to examine step-edge retreat dynamics at high resolution, we report that the dissolution of gibbsite in alkaline solutions occurs mainly by the release of aluminate dimers, which subsequently dissociate into the monomeric species that dominate the solution. Here, the observed dissolution anisotropy is readily explained by this mechanism, which was further supported by density functional tight-binding simulations of detachment activation energies. Recognition that such polynuclear dissolution mechanisms exist may enable an improved understanding of processes regulating mineral dissolution rates in nature and industry.

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atomic force microscopydensity functional tight-binding simulationsmachine learningmineral dissolution

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Li, Xiaoxu [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000290763057), Guo, Qing [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)], Zhao, Yatong [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Nanjing Univ. (China)], Qian, Chang [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)], Pouvreau, Maxime [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000290155086), Graham, Trent R. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000189078004), Chen, Ping [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)], Liu, Lili [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000295954303), Liu, Chang [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)], Legg, Benjamin A. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)], Chen, Qian [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)], Miao, Aijun [Nanjing Univ. (China)] (ORCID:0000000176812038), Wang, Zheming [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000219864357), De Yoreo, James J. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)], Pearce, Carolyn I. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)], Clark, Aurora E. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)], Rosso, Kevin M. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000284747720), Zhang, Xin [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)] (ORCID:000000032000858X). 2025-10-06. Mineral dissolution by dimeric complexes. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2504109122

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