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Microplastic types dominate the effects of bismuth oxide semi-conductor nanoparticles on their transport in saturated quartz sand
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Column transport experiments found that the type of microplastic (polystyrene vs. polyethylene vs. polypropylene) dominated the effects of bismuth oxide semiconductor nanoparticles on microplastic mobility in saturated quartz sand, with different polymer-nanoparticle combinations showing distinct transport and retention behaviors.
The transport of microplastics (MPs) is of great significance due to its potential threat to subsurface systems. The copresence of MPs and semi-conductor nanoparticles is quite common in practical environments (i. e. in electronic/electrical waste disposal sites). To date, the influence of bismuth oxide (BiO) semi-conductor nanoparticles on MPs transport in porous media has still been rarely and explicitly explored. Therefore, the effect of BiO on the transport of distinct types of MPs were investigated using column experiments. The MPs included 0.51 μm and 1.1 μm polystyrene (PS), 1 μm polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and 1 μm polyethylene (PE) MPs. Mechanisms for the differently altered transport of various MPs with BiO were further elucidated. It was verified that the deposited BiO on sand surfaces could contribute to the decreased transport of PET and PE MPs by column experiments with pre-treatment. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements, and electrochemical Nyquist curves demonstrated that the interaction of PE and PET MPs with BiO was more pronounced than that of PS MPs, especially for PE MPs. In addition, density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with adsorption experiments further confirmed that the adsorption between PE MPs and BiO was the strongest, which then contributed to the highest decrease of PE MPs transport. This study highlighted that the MPs types might be the major factor controlling its interaction with copresent substances, thereby affecting its fate and transport in soil systems.
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Researchers investigated how titanium dioxide nanoparticles affect the transport of polystyrene microplastics through saturated quartz sand, finding that nTiO2 presence altered microplastic deposition behavior in ways dependent on ionic strength and pH, suggesting nanoparticle-microplastic interactions can influence contaminant mobility in soils.
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Column experiments showed that polystyrene microplastics had significantly lower mobility through manganese oxide-coated sand than bare sand due to electrostatic attraction and surface roughness, with humic acid increasing transport and co-transport with cadmium reducing it.
Transport of polystyrene microplastics in bare and iron oxide-coated quartz sand: Effects of ionic strength, humic acid, and co-existing graphene oxide
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Researchers investigated how graphene oxide nanoparticles and humic acid influence the transport of polystyrene microplastics through sand columns, comparing bare quartz sand with iron oxide-coated sand. They found that iron oxide-coated sand strongly retained microplastics regardless of other factors, while graphene oxide significantly promoted microplastic transport by increasing surface charge and creating steric barriers. The study suggests that the co-presence of nanomaterials and organic matter in the environment can significantly alter how microplastics move through soil and groundwater systems.
Binary transport of PS and PET microplastics in saturated quartz sand: Effect of sand particle size and PET shape
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Not all microplastics behave the same way when they enter groundwater or soil — their shape, size, and the plastic type all influence how far they travel. This study tracked how spherical and fragment-shaped microplastics of two polymer types (polystyrene and PET) moved through sand columns, finding that fragment-shaped particles were significantly less mobile than spheres, and that when both types were present together, the spheres helped carry fragments further by forming aggregates. These findings are important for predicting how microplastics contaminate groundwater and for designing remediation strategies.
Co-transport of polystyrene microplastics and kaolinite colloids in goethite-coated quartz sand: Joint effects of heteropolymerization and surface charge modification
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Column experiments showed that kaolinite colloids enhanced polystyrene microplastic transport through quartz sand but had more complex effects in goethite-coated sand, where the promotion depended strongly on ionic strength conditions due to heteropolymerization and surface charge modification.
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