Experimental study of colloid interactions with rock surfaces

In subsurface environments, colloids may play a role in the transport of contaminants to the biosphere because of their high capacity to adsorb them. The electrostatic interactions between colloids and the heterogeneous rock surfaces will determine the fate and transport of both colloids and contaminants adsorbed on the particles. Thus, the aim of the present work was to study the electrostatic interactions between colloidal particles and a crystalline rock surface. Since different minerals are expected to act as preferential reactive areas, the spatial distribution of colloids on the mineral surfaces was studied, accounting several conditions, by means of the nuclear ion beam technique g-Particle Induced X-ray Emission (muPIXE).