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Size effect of polystyrene microplastics on sorption of phenanthrene and nitrobenzene
Summary
This study examined how the size of polystyrene microplastics affects their ability to sorb two common organic contaminants, phenanthrene and nitrobenzene, finding that smaller particles had greater sorption capacity due to a higher surface area-to-volume ratio. The results highlight that microplastic particle size is an important factor in predicting how they accumulate and transport chemical pollutants in the environment.
Microplastics can have strong sorption capacity for many contaminants, thus greatly influencing the fate, transport and bioavailability of those contaminants in the environment. However, the effect of particle size on contaminant sorption by microplastics is still poorly understood. This study investigated the sorption of phenanthrene and nitrobenzene to micron-, submicron- and nano- sized polystyrene microplastics of 170 µm, 102 µm, 50 µm, 30 µm, 800 nm, 235 nm or 50 nm. All phenanthrene sorption isotherms and most nitrobenzene sorption isotherms were linear because of the strong sorption capacity of microplastics and the hydrophobic partitioning. The log K values ranged between 3.07-4.20 and 1.58-3.14 log (L/kg) for phenanthrene and nitrobenzene, respectively. The log K values of phenanthrene and nitrobenzene both increased with decreasing particle size for micron-sized polystyrenes (micro-polystyrene) and submicron-sized polystyrenes (submicro-polystyrene). However, in comparison with 235 nm submicro-polystyrene, the log K values of 50 nm nano-polystyrene were significantly lower for phenanthrene and comparable for nitrobenzene because its aggregation greatly reduced the effective surface area accessible for sorption. The results improved our understanding of the fate and risks of microplastics associated with the two typical organic contaminants in the micrometer to nanometer scale.
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