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The UltravioletIrradiation Aging Characteristicsof Microplastics in Soil under the Action of Biochar
Summary
Researchers investigated how biochar application at four concentrations affects UV-induced aging of both persistent polyethylene microplastics and biodegradable PBAT microplastics in soil, finding that biochar modulates the aging behavior and physicochemical transformation of microplastics under ultraviolet irradiation.
Microplastics (MPs) coexist with biochar (BC) in soil. However, studies of the effects of BC application on MP aging in soils are few. Therefore, this study investigated the BC-mediated aging behavior of persistent microplastics (PMPs) and biodegradable microplastics (BMPs). Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation was used as the aging method, and four BC concentrations were applied to soil containing PMP-polyethylene (PE) and BMP-polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), which was analyzed to assess the effects of different BC concentrations on MP aging behavior in soil. The results revealed that the addition of BC accelerated the surface aging of PE and PBAT. Changes in carbonyl index (CI) and hydroxyl index (HI) indicated that high BC concentrations promoted UV-irradiation aging of PE and PBAT. Overall, 2 and 4% BC play a positive role in the formation of −OH groups in PE and PBAT. PE was susceptible to electrophilic attack, whereas PBAT underwent both electrophilic and nucleophilic attack.