First-Principles Study on the Migration of Heavy Metal Ions in Ice-Water Medium from Ulansuhai Lake

Energy is a fundamental driver that causes material movement. It is important to discover changes in energy by studying the internal mechanism of pollutant migration between system components during the freezing process. To explore the migration mechanism of heavy metal ions (HMIs) from ice to water in a lake, we carried out a laboratory freezing experiment and simulated the distribution and migration of HMIs (Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, Pb, Cd, and Hg) under different conditions. Then, we analyzed the use of energy by first-principle calculations. The results showed that HMIs are more stable in an aqueous environment than in an ice environment. For the same HMI, the binding energy in water is smaller than that in ice. Hence, the HMIs migrated from ice to water as the lake was freezing. The ability of different kinds of heavy metals to migrate from ice to water is related to their binding energy in ice. The concentrations of HMIs in ice are positively correlated with their binding energies. This study investigated the migration characteristics and mechanisms of HMIs in the process of lake freezing.