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Quantitative assessment of interactions of hydrophilic organic contaminants with microplastics in natural water environment

Water Research 2022 91 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 60 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Jinsong He, Xiao Fu, Xiao Fu, Jinsong He, Jinsong He, Jinsong He, Jinsong He, Fan Ni, Xiao Fu, J. Paul Chen, Xiao Fu, Fan Ni, Shihuai Deng, Jinsong He, J. Paul Chen, Jinsong He, Fei Shen, Gang Yang Gang Yang Gang Yang, Fei Shen, Shihuai Deng, J. Paul Chen, J. Paul Chen, Gang Yang, Shihuai Deng, Shihuai Deng, Xiao Fu, Shihuai Deng, Fei Shen, Gang Yang J. Paul Chen, Gang Yang Shihuai Deng, J. Paul Chen, Xiao Fu, Shihuai Deng, J. Paul Chen, Fei Shen, Jinsong He, Fei Shen, Fei Shen, Fei Shen, Fei Shen, Shihuai Deng, Jinsong He, Shihuai Deng, Gang Yang Gang Yang Gang Yang Gang Yang Gang Yang

Summary

Researchers quantified how microplastics interact with common antibiotic pollutants in natural water conditions, comparing virgin and environmentally aged polystyrene particles. They found that aged microplastics absorbed significantly more antibiotics than new ones due to increased surface area and chemical changes from weathering. The study suggests that as microplastics age in the environment, they become more effective at concentrating and transporting other harmful pollutants.

Polymers

The interaction between microplastics (MPs) and hydrophilic organic contaminants (HOCs) in natural water environment has recently raised great public attentions due to the potential toxicity to humans. However, the quantitative assessment is less studied. In this study, the interaction between ciprofloxacin (CIP) and ofloxacin (OFL) (two important HOCs) and virgin and aged polystyrene (PS) was investigated. The aged PS showed higher adsorption rate and capacity than the virgin PS, due to its larger surface area and more O-containing groups. The pH-dependent adsorption of CIP was higher than OFL on both virgin and aged PS; the maximum adsorption for both HOCs occurred at pH 5. The sequential orders of functional groups for the adsorption were discovered according to the study by the 2D correlation Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Several mechanisms existed for the interaction: (1) at 3.0 < pH < 5.0, the electrostatic attraction (EA) was inhibited while H-bond (HB) was dominant, accounting for > 60% of the total uptake; (2) at 5.0 < pH < 8.0, the contribution of EA increased to around 50-60% while HB decreased to 30-40%; (3) at 8.0 < pH < 10.0, EA, HB and π-π conjugation caused 30-40%, 25-40% and 20-45% of the total uptake, respectively; (4) at 10.0 < pH < 12.0, π-π conjugation accounted for 90-100%. Notably, higher adsorption of CIP was mainly attributed to the presence of secondary amino groups and its higher pK value, correspondingly leading to the additional ordinary HB and negative charge-assisted HB, and EA interactions with PS. This study further provides clear evidences on the risk of MPs and HOCs on humans and aqueous living organisms.

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