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Competitive adsorption of lead and cadmium onto nanoplastics with different charges: Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy study
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Researchers investigated how nanoplastics with different surface charges compete to adsorb the heavy metals lead and cadmium, finding that negatively charged nanoplastics bound more of both metals and that lead consistently outcompeted cadmium for binding sites. These results reveal that the surface chemistry of nanoplastics shapes their capacity to carry toxic metals through the environment, with implications for combined heavy-metal and nanoplastic risk in aquatic ecosystems.
The competitive adsorption ability and mechanisms of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) by nanoplastics (NPs) with positive charges (PS-NH) and negative charges (PS-SOH) were investigated by using batch adsorption experiments coupled with the two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) method. The adsorption isotherm results showed that PS-SOH exhibited a higher adsorption capacity for Pb or Cd compared to PS-NH. The adsorption affinity of NPs for Pb was higher than that of Cd. The competitive adsorption results showed that Pb had a more pronounced negative effect on the adsorption of Cd. The adsorption capacities of NPs were affected by the surface charge and solution pH. Electrostatic force was the main factor influencing PS-SOH to capture Pb and Cd, while chelation was the main mechanism between PS-NH and metals. The functional groups of NPs played significant roles in the sorption of Pb or Cd according to the FTIR spectra and 2D-COS analysis. This study provided new insights into the impact of NPs on the transport of other pollutants.
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