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Temporospatial nano-heterogeneity of self-assembly of extracellular polymeric substances on microplastics and water environmental implications

Journal of Hazardous Materials 2022 9 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.

Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Shuyan Xu, Shuyan Xu, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Caiqin Wang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Pengfeng Zhu, Daoyong Zhang, Pengfeng Zhu, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Daoyong Zhang, Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan Xiangliang Pan

Summary

Using atomic force microscopy-infrared spectroscopy, researchers found that extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from bacteria self-assemble onto microplastic surfaces in spatially heterogeneous patterns that differ between fresh and one-year aged polypropylene MPs. Aging caused nanoscale fragmentation that changed EPS binding patterns, with implications for how the microplastic corona forms and affects MP toxicity and transport.

Polymers

Environmental behavior and ecotoxicity of microplastics (MPs) are significantly influenced by the omnipresent self-assembly of microbial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on them. However, mechanisms of EPS self-assembly onto MPs at nanoscale resolution and effects of aging are unclear. For the first time, temporospatial nano-heterogeneity of self-assembly of EPS onto fresh and one-year aged polypropylene (PP) MPs were investigated by atomic-force-microscopy-infrared-spectroscopy (AFM-IR). Natural aging caused high degree nanoscale fragmentation of MPs physically and chemically. Self-assembly of EPS on MPs was aging-dependent. Polysaccharides were assembled on MP surface faster than proteins. Initially, regardless of the fresh or aged MPs, polysaccharides and proteins, with the former being predominant, were successively and separately assembled to different nanospaces because of their competition for binding sites. More and more proteins and polysaccharides were superimposed on each other with assembly time due to intermolecular forces. The nanochemical textural analysis showed that the nano-heterogeneity of EPS assembly to MPs was clearly correlated with the aging-induced nanochemical and nanomechanical heterogeneity of MP surface. The spontaneous self-assembly of EPS with temporospatial nano-heterogeneity on MPs have multiple impacts on behavior, ecotoxicity and fate of MPs and their associated pollutants as well as other key ecological processes in aquatic environment.

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