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Reduced adsorption of norfloxacin on UV aging microplastics in anoxic environment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research 2023 29 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 45 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Jing He, Sijia Chen, Yulin Xu, Mengxin Sun, Tingting Yang, Li Liang, Li Liang, Xinyu Xiong

Summary

UV aging of four common microplastics (PS, PP, PA, PE) in anoxic conditions reduced their adsorption capacity for the antibiotic norfloxacin, with decreases attributed to reduced hydrophobicity and increased crystallinity, while adsorption capacity decreased with increasing temperature.

Over recent years, much attention has been paid to aging problem of microplastics and adsorption behavior of antibiotic on microplastics. In this study, four microplastics, including polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA) and polyethylene (PE), were photoaged by UV light in anoxic environment. The surface characteristics of microplastics and adsorption behavior of norfloxacin (NOR) on microplastics were investigated. Results indicated that the specific surface area and crystallinity increased, and hydrophobicity weakened of microplastics after UV aging. The content of C element decreased and the content of O barely changed in the aged microplastics. In addition, the adsorption of NOR on microplastics yielded a better fitness for the pseudo-second-order kinetics, Langmuir and Freundlich models. The adsorption capacities of NOR on PS, PA, PP, and PE at 288 K were 16.01, 15.12, 14.03, and 13.26 mg·g, respectively, while the adsorption capacities of NOR on aged microplastics were reduced to 14.20, 14.19, 11.50, and 10.36 mg·g, respectively, due to decrease of hydrophobicity and increase of crystallinity of microplastics after UV aging. The adsorption of NOR on microplastics decreased with the increase of temperature, implying the adsorption process was exothermic. Adsorption mechanism analysis showed that Van der Waals force was the main influential mechanism of the adsorption of NOR on PP and PE, and hydrogen bond was the main factor affecting the adsorption of NOR on PA, while the π-π interaction was the main mechanism impacting the adsorption of NOR on PS. Aging time and salinity significantly affect the adsorption of NOR on microplastics. With the increase of humic acid concentration and pH, the adsorption of NOR on microplastics first reduced and then rose. This study provides a basis for further clarifying the mechanism of UV aging microplastics and a reference for the study of combined pollution behavior of microplastics and antibiotics.

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