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Polymer-specific transformation of microplastics under soil freeze–thaw versus UV aging: Multiscale insights into atrazine interaction mechanisms
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Long-term soil incubation experiments showed that different polymer types transform distinctively under real soil conditions, with some plastics fragmenting rapidly while others persist with minimal change. Polymer-specific fate data are essential for accurate risk assessment and regulatory decisions about plastic use in agriculture.
Microplastics (MPs) and herbicides like atrazine (ATZ) are widely detected in cold-region agricultural soils, raising environmental concerns. However, the effects of freeze-thaw cycles (FTCs), a typical climatic stress, on the modification of the surface properties of MPs and the subsequent interactions between FTC-aged (FT-) MPs and coexisting ATZ remain unclear. Here, Polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE) MPs prevalent in cold regions were aged via soil FTCs, with UV aging as a reference, to assess physicochemical alterations and ATZ interactions using experiments and simulations. FT-PS exhibited marked surface oxidation (O/C ratio increased 3.2-fold) and structural degradation (specific surface area increased 1.8-fold), resulting in the highest ATZ adsorption capacity (441.920 μg/g), which was 120% and 109% greater than that of unaged and UV-aged PS, respectively. In contrast, PE exhibited minimal physicochemical changes under either aging condition, and its adsorption was mainly governed by hydrophobic interactions. Density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that FTCs introduced oxygen-containing groups and surface defects on PS, promoting hydrogen bonding and stronger van der Waals interactions with ATZ. These results highlight the overlooked role of FTCs in shaping MP-pollutant interactions and call for greater attention to co-contamination risks in the agricultural ecosystems of cold regions.
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Interactions between microplastics from agricultural films and soil in regulating atrazine adsorption: A mechanistic and environmental relevance study.
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Lab tests mixed microplastics from weathered or new plastic farm films into soil to see how they affect the soil's ability to hold the pesticide atrazine. Weathered plastic particles, which had rougher surfaces and oxygen-containing chemical groups, bound atrazine more strongly than new plastic, with particle size, amount of plastic, and aging level all affecting the results.
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