Molecular insights into the effects of pyrolysis temperature on composition and copper binding properties of biochar-derived dissolved organic matter

Abstract Biochar-derived dissolved organic matter (BDOM), which has a substantial impact on the environmental behavior of heavy metals, is critical for understanding the environmental efficacy of biochar. Here, we used a suite of advanced spectroscopic and mass spectroscopic methods to investigate the relationship among the pyrolysis temperature of biochar, composition of BDOM, and interactions of BDOM with Cu. The binding affinity of BDOM and Cu showed incredibly increase, with the increasing pyrolysis temperature (300–500 °C) which promoted the release of condensed aromatic compounds and oxygen-containing functional groups from biochar into dissolved phase. A notable difference in the sequences binding with Cu was occurred during the changing pyrolysis temperature. The amide only involved in the binding process between Cu and BDOM at low-temperature (300 and 400 °C), whereas phenolic only associated with the such binding process at high-temperature (500 °C). Apart from this, the carboxyl and polysaccharides took part in the binding process of Cu with BDOM, no matter how higher the temperature is. A further analysis by X-ray absorption spectroscopy revealed that bidentate carboxylic–Cu complexes appear to be the predominant binding pattern for Cu to BDOM. Our results might contribute to provide novel information for the environment applications of biochar.