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Microplastics as a vehicle of heavy metals in aquatic environments: A review of adsorption factors, mechanisms, and biological effects
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This review summarizes how microplastics in water can absorb and carry toxic heavy metals like lead and cadmium, making them more dangerous to aquatic life than either pollutant alone. Environmental factors such as water acidity, salinity, and organic matter influence how much metal sticks to microplastic surfaces. Since contaminated seafood is a major source of human exposure, understanding these interactions is important for assessing health risks.
Microplastics (MPs) have recently attracted much attention due to their widespread distribution in the aquatic environment. Microplastics can act as a vector of heavy metals in the aquatic environment, causing a potential threat to aquatic organisms and human health. This review mainly summarized the occurrence of microplastics in the aquatic environment and their interaction with heavy metals. Then, we considered the adsorption mechanisms of MPs and heavy metals, and further critically discussed the effects of microplastics properties and environmental factors (e.g., pH, DOM, and salinity) on the adsorption of heavy metals. Finally, the potential risks of combined exposure of MPs and heavy metals to aquatic biota were briefly evaluated. This work aims to provide a theoretical summary of the interaction between MPs and heavy metals, and is expected to serve as a reference for the accurate assessment of their potential risks in future studies.
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Scientists systematically varied pH, salinity, and exposure time during metal adsorption experiments on different microplastic types, finding that pH had the greatest influence on metal uptake, with higher pH favoring adsorption of copper, lead, and cadmium onto most tested polymers.
A Mini-Review On The Microplastic-Heavy Metal Interactions And The Factors Affecting Their Fate In Aquatic Habitats
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This mini-review examines how microplastics interact with heavy metals in aquatic environments, serving as vectors that can transport toxic pollutants. Researchers describe how factors like polymer type, surface area, water pH, and salinity influence the adsorption of heavy metals onto microplastic surfaces, potentially increasing their bioavailability to aquatic organisms.
Study on the Adsorption Behavior and Mechanism of Heavy Metals in Aquatic Environment before and after the Aging of Typical Microplastics
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Researchers investigated the adsorption behavior and mechanisms of heavy metals by typical microplastics before and after environmental aging, finding that aging significantly alters microplastics' surface properties and capacity to bind metals such as cadmium and lead in aquatic systems.
Study on the Adsorption Behavior of Cadmiumby the MPs and Its Environmental Factors
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This study investigated how microplastics adsorb the toxic heavy metal cadmium under different environmental conditions including pH, temperature, and salinity. Microplastics were found to act as carriers for cadmium, potentially transporting this harmful metal into aquatic ecosystems and the food chain.
Adsorption of heavy metals by biofilm-coated microplastics in aquatic environments: Mechanisms, isotherm and kinetic processes, and influencing factors
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This review synthesizes research on how biofilms—microbial coatings that naturally form on microplastics in water—alter the particles' ability to absorb heavy metals like lead, copper, and cadmium, finding that biofilmed microplastics generally adsorb more metal than bare plastic and that electrostatic forces and surface complexation are the dominant mechanisms. This matters because microplastics coated in both biofilm and toxic metals may deliver a double dose of contamination to organisms that ingest them. The review identifies key gaps, including how competitive metal mixtures and shifting biofilm composition over time affect this combined pollution risk.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.