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Influence of environmental and biological macromolecules on aggregation kinetics of nanoplastics in aquatic systems

Water Research 2020 135 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 55 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Yanjun Liu, Yanjun Liu, Ziqing Huang, Weilin Huang Chen Yang, Chengyu Chen, Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Chengyu Chen, Chengyu Chen, Weilin Huang Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Chen Yang, Chen Yang, Chen Yang, Yanjun Liu, Weilin Huang Chengyu Chen, Weilin Huang Jini Zhou, Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Jini Zhou, Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Chen Yang, Chengyu Chen, Jie Tang, Weilin Huang Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Yanjun Liu, Chen Yang, Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Ziqing Huang, Yanjun Liu, Zhi Dang, Chen Yang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Chengyu Chen, Zhi Dang, Chen Yang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Weilin Huang Zhi Dang, Weilin Huang Zhi Dang, Weilin Huang Zhi Dang, Weilin Huang Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Weilin Huang Zhi Dang, Zhi Dang, Chen Yang, Chengyu Chen, Chengyu Chen, Chengyu Chen, Zhi Dang, Chen Yang, Weilin Huang Weilin Huang Weilin Huang Weilin Huang Weilin Huang Weilin Huang Chengyu Chen, Zhi Dang, Weilin Huang Zhi Dang, Weilin Huang Chengyu Chen, Weilin Huang Weilin Huang Chen Yang, Chen Yang, Zhi Dang, Chengyu Chen, Chengyu Chen, Chengyu Chen, Weilin Huang Chengyu Chen, Zhi Dang, Chengyu Chen, Chengyu Chen, Zhi Dang, Chen Yang, Weilin Huang

Summary

Researchers studied how natural macromolecules like humic acid, alginate, and proteins influence the clumping behavior of polystyrene nanoplastics in water. They found that these macromolecules generally stabilized nanoplastics in sodium chloride solutions but caused them to aggregate in calcium chloride solutions, with effects varying by pH. The findings suggest that the environmental fate and transport of nanoplastics in natural waters depends heavily on the surrounding organic molecules and water chemistry.

Polymers

Study Type Environmental

Nanoplastics derived from degradation of micro- or macroplastics are emerging contaminants in aquatic environments, where their fate and transport as well as toxicity are affected by aggregation. This study employed time-resolved dynamic light scattering to investigate the aggregation kinetics of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs) in the presence of four macromolecules (sodium alginate (SA), bovine serum albumin (BSA), extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), and Suwannee River humic acid (HA)) in solutions containing monovalent (NaCl) and divalent (CaCl) salts at different pH. Our results showed that the macromolecules enhanced PSNP stability in NaCl solutions but destabilized PSNPs in CaCl solutions at pH 6. In NaCl solutions, macromolecules inhibited PSNP aggregation due to steric hindrance originated from macromolecular layer adsorbed on PSNPs. The strongest stabilization effect was observed for BSA having the greatest hydrodynamic adsorption layer thickness of 21.9 nm, followed by HA, EPS, and SA. In CaCl solutions, SA significantly destabilized PSNPs via alginate bridging with Ca, which enhanced with concentrations of SA and CaCl. The destabilization effects of other three macromolecules in CaCl solutions were governed by the interplay among molecular bridging, charge screening, and steric hindrance. An increased pH in NaCl or CaCl solutions containing macromolecules all stabilized PSNPs due to elevated electrostatic repulsion, except that SA destabilized PSNPs in CaCl solutions via enhanced molecular bridging. The stabilization effect of macromolecules may also compete with the destabilization effect under seawater condition. This study suggested that PSNP aggregation in aquatic environments could be strongly affected by macromolecules and solution chemistry.

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