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Deciphering the aging-driven transformation of tire wear particles: Reshaping adsorption, leaching dynamics, and biointerfacial impacts
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Researchers reviewed how environmental aging — via photooxidation, mechanical abrasion, and biodegradation — transforms tire wear particles by increasing surface area and polarity, promoting additive leaching and the formation of reactive free radicals, collectively amplifying ecological toxicity beyond what fresh particles alone would cause.
Tire wear particles (TWPs) are a major source of microplastic pollution, yet their environmental behavior and risks remain insufficiently understood, particularly under environmental aging. This review synthesizes current knowledge on aging-induced transformations of TWPs and their implications for contaminant dynamics and ecological effects. Aging processes, including photooxidation, mechanical abrasion, and biodegradation, significantly alter the physicochemical properties of TWPs, leading to increased surface area, enhanced polarity, and progressive fragmentation. These changes regulate key environmental processes, including contaminant adsorption/desorption and the diffusion-controlled release of embedded additives. In addition, aging can induce the formation of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs), which generate reactive oxygen species and mediate redox transformations of co-existing contaminants. Collectively, these coupled processes govern the environmental behavior of TWPs by enhancing chemical exposure, reactivity, and biological interactions, ultimately amplifying ecological risks. This review highlights that TWP-associated toxicity emerges from the interplay among physicochemical transformation, contaminant interactions, and chemical release during aging. Future research should prioritize integrated experimental designs and environmentally realistic conditions to improve predictive assessments of TWP-associated risks.
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A critical review of tire wear particles aging and ecotoxicological consequences in terrestrial environments: Insights into environmentally persistent free radicals
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This review synthesizes evidence on how tire wear particles age in terrestrial environments and the resulting ecological consequences. Researchers found that UV-induced aging generates environmentally persistent free radicals and reactive oxygen species that amplify soil toxicity, while biodegradation may reduce some risks. The study highlights that characterizing aged tire wear particles remains difficult due to their compositional complexity and calls for standardized analytical methods.
In Vitro Assessment Reveals the Effects of Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals on the Toxicity of Photoaged Tire Wear Particles
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Researchers examined how tire wear particles change when exposed to sunlight and found that the aging process generates environmentally persistent free radicals on their surfaces. These radicals significantly increased the toxicity of the particles in laboratory cell tests, causing oxidative stress and DNA damage. The study suggests that weathered tire particles may be more harmful than freshly released ones, adding a new dimension to microplastic pollution concerns.
When and how leachate toxicity of tire wear particles peaks: quantifying its dynamics using dose-response analysis
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Researchers quantified how leachate toxicity from tire wear particles (TWP) changes with weathering over time, using aging experiments and toxicity bioassays to map the temporal dynamics of toxic compound release. Toxicity peaked during early weathering as soluble compounds leached rapidly, then declined, providing data relevant to risk assessment of TWP in stormwater runoff.
Aging increases the particulate- and leachate-induced toxicity of tire wear particles to microalgae.
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Researchers found that environmental aging of tire wear particles increases their toxicity to marine microalgae beyond that of fresh particles, with aged particles triggering greater oxidative stress, photosynthesis disruption, and metabolic changes in the algae.
Aging, characterization and sorption behavior evaluation of tire wear particles for tetracycline in aquatic environment
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Researchers aged tire wear particles using UV weathering and chemical oxidation and studied how aging affects their sorption of tetracycline antibiotics, finding that weathering significantly alters surface chemistry and increases the capacity of tire particles to adsorb and potentially transport pharmaceutical contaminants.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.