Adsorption of serine at the anatase TiO

Knowledge of the adsorption reactions between serine and minerals is critical to understanding the geochemical processes of amino acids (i.e., mobility, bioavailability, and degradation) in the environment. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) flow-cell measurements were used to distinguish the inner- and outer-sphere complexation and reveal the dynamic adsorption and desorption processes of each surface complex at the molecular level. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were applied to determine the structures of the surface complexes and to justify the peak assignments of the serine dissolved in solution and adsorbed on TiO