Mercury (II) Adsorption on Three Contrasting Chinese Soils Treated with Two Sources of Dissolved Organic Matter: II. Spectroscopic Characterization

To reveal the influencing mechanism of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on mercury (Hg II) adsorption by black, red, and fluvo-aquic soils in China, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and three-dimensional excitation emission matrix (3DEEM) fluorescence spectroscopy were employed to characterize the DOM samples and DOM-Hg complexes. FTIR spectra showed that the complexation of Hg (II) mainly acted on the C=O, COO⁻, and O-H groups of DOM from swine manure (DOMs) and wheat straw (DOMw). The NMR spectra indicated that the complex reaction of Hg (II) and DOM corresponded with the change in carboxyl C. The NMR results also showed that the dominant C components in DOM were aromatic C, O-alkyl C, alkyl C, and carboxyl C, and that DOMw imposed more influence on Hg (II) adsorption than DOMs, which was consistent with that of FTIR spectroscopy. The 3DEEM showed that DOM contained both aromatic protein-like and fulvic-like substances, and that the protein-like properties of DOMs and UV fulvic-like fluorescence substances of DOMw can better participate in the formation of Hg complexes. This result provides strong direct evidence to elucidate the DOM-Hg (II) binding mechanism, and further interprets the effect mechanism of exogenous DOM on Hg adsorption by soil.