Dynamic dissolution of Cm3+ ions incorporated at the calcite–water interface: an ab initio molecular dynamics simulation study

Abstract

The stability of actinide-mineral solid solution in a water environment is critical for assessing the safety of nuclear-waste geological repositories and studying actinide migration in natural systems. However, the dissolution behavior of actinide ions incorporated at the mineral–water interface is still unclear at the atomic level. Herein, we present metadynamics simulations of the reaction pathways, thermodynamics and kinetics of trivalent curium ions (Cm³⁺) dissolving from calcite surfaces. Cm³⁺ ions incorporated in different calcite surfaces (i.e., terrace and stepped surfaces) with distinct coordination environments have different reaction pathways, free energy barriers and free energy changes. We found that Cm dissolution from a stepped surface is more favorable than that from a terrace surface, both thermodynamically and kinetically. In addition, water molecules seem to promote the detachment of curium ions from the surface by exerting a pulling force via water coordination with Cm³⁺ and a pushing force via proton migration to the surface layer and water diffusion in the vacant Cm site. Thus, the findings from this work prove to be a milestone in revealing the dynamic dissolution mechanism of trivalent actinides from minerals and would also help predict the dissolution behaviors of other metal ions at the solid–water interface in chemical and environmental sciences.