A pH-Dependent X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Study of U Adsorption to Bacterial Cell Walls

Metal mobility in subsurface water systems involves the complex interaction of the metal, the fluid, and the mineral surfaces over which the fluid flows. This mobility is further influenced by metal adsorption onto bacteria and other biomass in the subsurface. To better understand the mechanism of this adsorption as well as its dependence on the chemical composition of the fluid, we have performed a series of metal adsorption experiments of aqueous uranyl (UO2)2+ to the gram-positive bacterium B. subtilis in the presence and absence of carbonate along with X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) to determine the binding structures at the cell surface. In this paper we demonstrate an approach to the XAS data analysis which allows us to measure the partitioning of the adsorption of uranium to hydroxyl, carboxyl/carbonato, and phosphoryl active sites at the cell surface