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Adsorption behavior of triclosan on polystyrene nanoplastics: The roles of particle size, surface functionalization, and environmental factors
Summary
Researchers examined how triclosan, an antimicrobial compound common in personal care products, adsorbs onto polystyrene nanoplastics of different sizes and surface chemistries, finding that smaller particles and functionalized surfaces (with carboxyl or amine groups) bind more triclosan, with pH and salinity further modulating uptake — suggesting nanoplastics can serve as mobile carriers for this contaminant.
Nanoplastics (NPs) contribute substantially to the transport of waterborne pollutants. Triclosan (TCS) has a high potential to contact with NPs because of their prevalence in natural waters. Herein, this study investigated the adsorption behavior of TCS on differently sized and functionalized polystyrene (PS) NPs. The effects of environmental factors such as pH, salinity, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) were also evaluated. Results suggest that the adsorption equilibrium constant (k) of TCS in pristine PSNP suspensions followed the order as: PSNPs-50 nm (4.39 L·g) > PSNPs-100 nm (2.78 L·g) > PSNPs-200 nm (2.59 L·g) > PSNPs-500 nm (1.36 L·g) ≈ PSNPs-900 nm (1.36 L·g). For the functionalized PSNPs (i.e., PSNPs-COOH, PSNPs-NH), the values of specific surface area normalized k called k, were higher than those of pristine PSNPs. Meanwhile, TCS adsorption on two functionalized PSNPs remained stable and then decreased as salinity increased, while an opposite trend was observed toward pristine PSNPs. All these suggested that physicochemical properties of PSNPs (e.g., particle size and surface functional groups) are important factors influencing their adsorption capacity. When the solution pH raised, the adsorbed amounts of TCS on all tested PSNPs prone to decline. However, DOM only affected the adsorption behavior of PSNPs-50 nm, probably owing to its aggregation with tiny PSNPs and the induced secondary adsorption.