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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Science

A single freeze cycle redirects iron mineral transformation

  • Tao Luo1,2
  • Tao Chen2
  • Tra My Bui Thi2
  • James A. Behan3
  • Crispin J. D. Hetherington4
  • Khalil Hanna3
  • Jean‐François Boily2
4 affiliations
  1. 1College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, State Key Laboratory of Fluorine-Containing Functional Membrane Materials, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
  2. 2Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  3. 3École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes, Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, Unité Mixte de Recherche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Rennes, Rennes, France
  4. 4National Center for High Resolution Electron Microscopy, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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Abstract

Polycrystalline ice formation concentrates mineral nanoparticles into liquid boundaries between growing ice crystals. Here we show that minutes of freezing dictate iron mineral fate over subsequent months of aqueous aging. A single freeze–thaw cycle irreversibly aggregates ferrihydrite through converging physical and chemical mechanisms. Freeze concentration collapses electrostatic barriers while cryosuction strips hydration layers and compresses nanoparticles into micrometer-scale planar aggregates. Chemical evidence points to interfacial (hydr)oxo bridging, alongside hydrogen bonding, that resists disaggregation. These mechanisms lock nanoparticles into mesocrystal-like assemblages that retain their nanoscale identity but inhibit dissolution–reprecipitation to goethite, instead favoring solid-state transformation to hematite. Ice formation thus acts as a geochemical reactor, driving aggregation and interfacial bonding that redirect iron speciation, with broad implications for nutrient cycling and carbon preservation across the cryosphere.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{luo2026single,
  title = {{A single freeze cycle redirects iron mineral transformation}},
  author = {Tao Luo and Tao Chen and Tra My Bui Thi and James A. Behan and Crispin J. D. Hetherington and Khalil Hanna and Jean‐François Boily},
  journal = {Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1126/science.aee9519},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05742434v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - A single freeze cycle redirects iron mineral transformation
AU  - Tao Luo
AU  - Tao Chen
AU  - Tra My Bui Thi
AU  - James A. Behan
AU  - Crispin J. D. Hetherington
AU  - Khalil Hanna
AU  - Jean‐François Boily
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/09
JO  - Science
DO  - 10.1126/science.aee9519
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05742434v1
AB  - Polycrystalline ice formation concentrates mineral nanoparticles into liquid boundaries between growing ice crystals. Here we show that minutes of freezing dictate iron mineral fate over subsequent months of aqueous aging. A single freeze–thaw cycle irreversibly aggregates ferrihydrite through converging physical and chemical mechanisms. Freeze concentration collapses electrostatic barriers while cryosuction strips hydration layers and compresses nanoparticles into micrometer-scale planar aggregates. Chemical evidence points to interfacial (hydr)oxo bridging, alongside hydrogen bonding, that resists disaggregation. These mechanisms lock nanoparticles into mesocrystal-like assemblages that retain their nanoscale identity but inhibit dissolution–reprecipitation to goethite, instead favoring solid-state transformation to hematite. Ice formation thus acts as a geochemical reactor, driving aggregation and interfacial bonding that redirect iron speciation, with broad implications for nutrient cycling and carbon preservation across the cryosphere.
SN  - 0036-8075
SN  - 1095-9203
SN  - 0193-4511
ER  -