Continuum between Sorption and Precipitation of Fe(III) on Microbial Surfaces

Bacteria are a widespread, abundant, geochemically reactive component of aquatic environments. However, their role in the formation of secondary reactive surface phases such as iron oxides or in the direct sorption of metal contaminants has yet to be quantitatively described. Here, we compare the formation of iron oxides on bacterial cell surfaces to their formation abiotically (no bacteria present) over a range of both Fe(III) concentration …