Quantifying molecular scale stabilization mechanisms at the organic mineral interface

Understanding the dynamics of the carbon pool in the carbon cycle is crucial to both predicting climate and sustaining ecosystem services. However, a detailed description of the stabilization mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) is currently lacking. Interactions between organic molecules and minerals (both biotic and abiotic) are thought to play a significant role in carbon stabilization. A molecular-scale view of organic-mineral interactions could provide insight into carbon sequestration and help parameterize models of dynamic environmental systems. In this study, we probe the organic-mineral interface at the molecular scale using dynamic force spectroscopy. This allows us to directly measure the rupture forces required to remove organic molecules from the mineral surface, thus gaining an understanding of (1) the energetic landscape for molecular binding. By combining this with in-situ Fourier transform …