Comparing amorphous silica, short-range-ordered silicates and silicic acid species by FTIR

There is increased interest in the terrestrial silicon cycle in the last decades as its different compounds and species have large implications for ecosystem performance in terms of soil nutrient and water availability, ecosystem productivity as well as ecological aspects such as plant-microbe and plant-animal feedbacks. The currently existing analytical methods are limited. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis is suggested being a promising tool to differentiate between the different Si species. We report here on the differentiation of varying Si-species/Si-binding (in synthetic material) using FTIR-analyses. Therefore, we collected FTIR-spectra of five different amorphous silica,…