Biogenic and abiotic oxide coatings are important surfaces in the environment. Al, Fe, and Mn oxides are prevalent, have a high affinity for many contaminants, exhibit significant site capacities, and are microporous. Because of this microporosity, one important interaction with these surfaces is metal attenuation through intraparticle surface diffusion, where the contaminant slowly diffuses through micropores of the oxide along interior surface sites. Studies with abiotic Al and Mn oxide-coated clay reveal surface diffusivities ranging from 10^-18 to 10^-17 cm² s^-1. In more recent studies, biogenic Mn oxide coatings were formed by the sheath-forming bacterium, Leptothrix discophora, where Mn(II) is oxidized to Mn(IV) enzymatically. The resulting oxide coating was nanocrystalline as well as nanoparticulate where a further decrease in the diffusivity was observed, 10^-19 cm² s^-1. The porosity of oxide coatings appears to be influenced by the substrate as during its growth, its increase and shift to a smaller pore size distribution results in diffusivities between that observed for the discrete oxide and the substrate. The order of magnitude of the diffusion coefficients suggests that the oxides act as sinks, where contaminants may be effectively immobilized. Interestingly, as much as 90% of the sorption sites appear to be associated with the internal micropore surfaces. In addition to the macroscopic experiments, spectroscopic studies were also conducted to evaluate the local coordination environment and better understand speciation during the slow sorption process. While this work helps us to better understand contaminant behavior in the environment, because of the significant site capacities and microporosity, oxide coatings may be optimized and applied as an effective technology in natural and engineered systems.