0
Article Tier 2 Nanoplastics Remediation Sign in to save

Interfacial interaction between micro/nanoplastics and typical PPCPs and nanoplastics removal via electrosorption from an aqueous solution

Water Research 2020 282 citations

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers synthesized nanoscale polystyrene particles and investigated how they adsorb common pharmaceuticals and personal care products, specifically ciprofloxacin and bisphenol A. The study also explored electrosorption as a method for removing nanoplastics from water, providing insights into both the environmental behavior of nanoplastics and potential remediation strategies.

Polymers
Body Systems
Study Type Environmental

Micro/nanoplastics have raised worldwide concern with extensive research on its transfer, toxicity and removal. However, the primary environmental process-adsorption of nanoplastics has not been uncovered since the discovery of nanosized plastics. Here, we synthesized nanoscale polystyrene (PS) particles with mean diameter of ∼40 nm to avoid unknown properties from purchased ones, and thoroughly investigated its adsorption towards two typical pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) with distinct characteristics, which are antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) and endocrine disruptor (bisphenol-A). Moreover, UV radiation is applied to simulate aging process in natural cases, and the carbonyl index derived from FTIR spectra increased clearly from 0.183 to 0.387. The adsorption capacity at equilibrium of CIP and BPA increased from 0.15 to 4.07 to 4.92 and 8.71 mg/g after weathering, respectively. Besides, the effect of environmental factors (pH, humic acid, salinity and cations) was also studied. Furthermore, electrosorption technology is applied to remove nanoplastics in solution for the first time, with the capacity of 0.707 g nano-polystyrene/g AC and 0.322 g aged-nano-polystyrene/g AC, suggesting that adsorption under electric field is presumably a feasible tertiary treatment method targeted at nanoplastics in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

More Papers Like This

Article Tier 2

Interactionsbetween Nanoplastics and Antibiotics:Implications for Nanoplastics Aggregation in Aquatic Environments

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers studied how the antibiotics ciprofloxacin and tetracycline interact with polystyrene nanoplastics in aquatic environments, finding that these drugs alter nanoplastic surface properties and aggregation behavior under environmentally relevant conditions.

Article Tier 2

Effects of nanoplastics and microplastics on the availability of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in aqueous environment

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers found that nanoplastics and microplastics can sorb pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water, with smaller nanoplastics showing 1-2 orders of magnitude stronger sorption than microplastics, potentially reducing the bioavailability of these contaminants in aquatic environments.

Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoplastics and wastewater displayed antagonistic toxic effects due to the sorption of wastewater micropollutants

AI summary Read the abstract

Researchers found that polystyrene nanoplastics and wastewater micropollutants had antagonistic toxic effects when combined, because the nanoplastics sorbed positively charged pollutants through electrostatic interactions, reducing their bioavailability to aquatic organisms.

Article Tier 2

Adsorption behavior and interaction mechanism of microplastics with typical hydrophilic pharmaceuticals and personal care products

AI summary Read the abstract

This study examined how different types of microplastics adsorb hydrophilic pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in aquatic environments, finding that polymer type and surface properties governed the interaction mechanisms. The results indicate that microplastics can act as vectors for these emerging contaminants.

Article Tier 2

Insights into the interaction mechanism of ofloxacin and functionalized nano-polystyrene.

AI summary Read the abstract

This study investigated how the antibiotic ofloxacin interacts with functionalized polystyrene nanoplastics, finding that surface charge and functional groups on the nanoplastics strongly influenced binding strength and mechanisms. The results improve understanding of how nanoplastics can act as carriers for antibiotics in the environment, potentially altering their fate and biological effects.

Research digests by email

When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.

Email me about

Share this paper