Implicación de las interacciones interfaciales en la estructura y cohesión del suelo

Abstract

The electrical and thermodynamic characterization of a solid-liquid interface is important in a wide range of problems, both from a fundamental point of view and its technological applications. Many of the phenomena occurring at the solid-liquid interface, including wettability, adsorption or adhesion phenomena, are largely dependent on changes in the free surface energy of the interface. Although this study is often complex, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the combined analysis of surface charge and thermodynamic properties can provide ample information about the interactions taking place at the solid-liquid interface. These energies of interaction between the finer fraction of the soil are responsible for their cohesion and, therefore, their microstructure, determining also phenomena such as carbon fixation, erosionability of the same, retention of water and pollutants, etc. In our study, three types of interfacial interactions will be considered, Lifshitz-van der Waals (LW), electrostatic (EL), and acid-base (AB). The theoretical model that explains these interactions is Van Oss model (DLVO-Extended Theory); According to this model the three contributions depend on the nature of the interfaces involved (zeta potential and the components of free surface energy), which will require an electrical and thermodynamic characterization of all the materials to be studied. The objective of the research work will be to analyze from the point of view of interfacial interactions, important phenomena that affect the quality of agricultural and natural soils, such as carbon fixation, structure stability and resistance to surface erosion and mass.