Efficient and large-scale removal of humic acid (HA) from aqueous environments is required since HA causes human health and esthetic issues. Hydro-garnet compounds, Ca_(3)Al_(2)(SiO_(4))_(3–x )(OH)_(4x ), have recently been suggested as HA adsorbents not only due to their superior adsorption behaviors but also because they are ubiquitous element-derived compounds. In this study, the adsorption behavior of formic acid to hydro-garnets was investigated by means of first-principles density functional theory (DFT) computations. Formic acid was chosen owing to its reasonable computational cost and inclusion of carboxylic acid as HA. Comparisons of adsorption energies for formic acid among various compounds (including platinum and kaolinite) indicate that hydro-garnet compounds are promising due to their lower (more stable) adsorption energies. Also, the optimization of composition x enables selective adsorption of formic acid against solvent water molecules. Relationships between surface electronic/atomistic structures and adsorption properties are discussed.
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