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Effect of microplastics on the binding properties of Pb(ii) onto dissolved organic matter: insights from fluorescence spectra and FTIR combined with two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy

RSC Advances 2023 12 citations

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Researchers investigated how polystyrene microplastics affect the binding of lead ions to dissolved organic matter, using fluorescence and FTIR spectroscopy to reveal that microplastics promote heavy metal adsorption onto humic acid through altered binding mechanisms.

Polymers

Heavy metal cations are a typical type of inorganic pollutant that has persistent distribution characteristics in aquatic environments and are easily adsorbed on carriers, posing serious threats to ecological safety and human health. Some studies have shown that the coexistence of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and microplastics (MPs) promotes the adsorption of heavy metal cations, but the mechanism of promoting the adsorption process has not been thoroughly studied. In this study, the effect of polystyrene microplastics (PSMPs) on the binding properties of Pb2+ onto humic acid (HA) in aquatic environments was investigated by spectral analysis and two-dimensional correlation (2D-COS) analysis. When PSMPs co-existed with HA, the adsorption capacity of Pb2+ increased. On the one hand, Pb2+ is directly adsorbed on HA through the mechanism of complexation reaction, ion exchange and electrostatic interaction. On the other hand, Pb2+ is first adsorbed on PSMPs by electrostatic action and indirectly adsorbed on HA in the form of PSMPs-Pb2+ owing to the interaction between HA and PSMPs, which increases the adsorption amount of Pb2+ on HA. This study is significant for studying the migration and regression of heavy metal cation contaminants when PSMPs co-exist with DOM in an aqueous environment.

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Researchers systematically investigated interactions among lead, polystyrene microplastics, and sediment components to understand how microplastics affect heavy metal behavior in aquatic environments. The study found that polystyrene significantly inhibited lead adsorption to sediment by competing for binding sites, reducing lead uptake by up to 28%, which suggests that microplastics could increase the mobility of toxic metals in contaminated waterways.

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Researchers investigated the adsorption behavior of lead(II) ions onto polyethylene microplastics in freshwater environments by systematically varying initial Pb(II) concentration, pH, and residence time, using scanning electron microscopy and other characterization methods to elucidate the interaction dynamics and sorption mechanisms between this common metal contaminant and microplastic surfaces.

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