Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Atmospheric chemistry of microplastics: Transport, environmental impacts, and governance

This article reviewed the atmospheric chemistry of microplastics, examining their sources, environmental transport, deposition, chemical transformations in the atmosphere, and governance frameworks. It found that airborne MPs travel globally, undergo photochemical aging, and deliver plastic-bound pollutants far from their emission sources.

2024 Science and Technology of Engineering Chemistry and Environmental Protection
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric chemistry of microplastics:T ransport, environmental impacts, and governance.

This article reviews the atmospheric chemistry of microplastics, examining their sources, transport mechanisms, environmental impacts including as carriers of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants, and current remediation and governance strategies.

2024 Science and Technology of Engineering Chemistry and Environmental Protection
Article Tier 2

Aging Process of Microplastics in the Environment

This review examines how natural environmental processes — UV radiation, physical abrasion, chemical reactions, and biodegradation — alter the surface, shape, and chemistry of microplastics over time, and how these changes affect their ability to absorb and transport other pollutants. Understanding microplastic aging is critical because weathered particles behave differently than fresh plastic, often becoming more hazardous as pollutant carriers in ecosystems.

2024 3 citations
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review of microplastic aging: Laboratory simulations, physicochemical properties, adsorption mechanisms, and environmental impacts

This review examines how microplastics change as they age in the environment through exposure to sunlight, water, and chemicals, becoming rougher and more chemically reactive over time. Aged microplastics absorb more pollutants than fresh ones and release harmful additives and free radicals, meaning the microplastics people encounter in the real world may be more dangerous than the pristine particles typically used in lab studies.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 35 citations
Review Tier 2

Mechanism and characterization of microplastic aging process: A review

This review explains how microplastics age and break down in the environment through sunlight, heat, and chemical reactions, and why this aging process matters. As microplastics weather, their surfaces change in ways that make them better at absorbing toxic pollutants and more harmful to living organisms. Understanding these aging processes is important because the microplastics people encounter in food and water have typically been weathered, meaning they may be more dangerous than the fresh plastics used in most lab studies.

2023 Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 86 citations
Review Tier 2

Distribution and transport of atmospheric microplastics and the environmental impacts: A review

This review examines the distribution, transport, and environmental impacts of atmospheric microplastics, synthesizing evidence that airborne plastics are found globally from urban centers to remote polar regions. The authors identify deposition via precipitation as a major pathway by which atmospheric microplastics contaminate soil and water surfaces.

2022 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Characteristics and behaviors of microplastics undergoing photoaging and Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) initiated aging

This review examines how microplastics change as they age in the environment through sunlight exposure and chemical processes. Aging alters the surface properties of microplastics, making them better at absorbing toxic chemicals and heavy metals from the surrounding environment. Since nearly all microplastics found in nature have undergone some degree of aging, understanding these changes is essential for accurately assessing how dangerous real-world microplastic pollution is to human health.

2023 Water Research 126 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of meteorological conditions on atmospheric microplastic transport and deposition

This review summarizes how weather conditions like wind, rain, and temperature affect how microplastics travel through the atmosphere and settle back to Earth. Wind can carry microplastics across long distances between land and ocean, creating a global cycle of airborne plastic pollution that contributes to the microplastics we inevitably breathe in every day.

2024 Environmental Research 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric Microplastic Transport

This review examines atmospheric transport of microplastics, covering emission sources including roads and oceans, the meteorological and particle-characteristic factors influencing transport and deposition, and the cycles by which microplastics are redistributed to remote environments including high-altitude and polar regions.

2023 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Degradation of Microplastics and Nanoplastics: An Underexplored Pathway Contributing to Atmospheric Pollutants

Researchers reviewed how microplastics and nanoplastics degrade in the atmosphere through mechanical, photochemical, and microbial processes, releasing gaseous byproducts and serving as carriers for toxic substances. The study found that atmospheric degradation increases the particles' ability to interact with pollutants like heavy metals and persistent organic chemicals, amplifying health risks. Evidence indicates that airborne microplastics may also influence climate by affecting cloud formation and releasing greenhouse gases during photodegradation.

2025 ACS Earth and Space Chemistry 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Various Perspectives on Occurrence, Sources, Measurement Techniques, Transport, and Insights Into Future Scope for Research of Atmospheric Microplastics

This review synthesized current knowledge on atmospheric microplastics, covering their sources, occurrence across global regions, measurement techniques, and transport mechanisms, while identifying key research gaps for future investigation.

2023 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric microplastics: exposure, toxicity, and detrimental health effects

This review summarizes what is known about microplastics in the air, including their sources, how they travel, and their effects on human health when inhaled or swallowed. Airborne microplastics come from synthetic textiles, road dust, construction materials, and industrial processes, and can trigger inflammation and oxidative stress in the lungs and other organs. The authors conclude that atmospheric microplastics represent an underappreciated route of human exposure that deserves more research and regulation.

2023 RSC Advances 95 citations
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review of micro- and nano-plastics in the atmosphere: Occurrence, fate, toxicity, and strategies for risk reduction.

This review examines a decade of research on micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) in the atmosphere, covering their occurrence in outdoor and indoor air, toxicological effects on human health, and strategies to reduce exposure risk from inhalation of airborne plastic particles.

2023 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

A Review of Atmospheric Micro/Nanoplastics: Insights into Source and Fate for Modelling Studies

This review synthesizes current knowledge about how micro- and nanoplastics move through the atmosphere, covering their sources, transport mechanisms, and eventual deposition. Researchers found that atmospheric transport can carry these particles over long distances quickly, making it a major pathway for global plastic pollution spread. The study identifies key knowledge gaps needed for developing accurate models of airborne microplastic behavior.

2025 Current Pollution Reports 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics ride the atmosphere

Research confirms that microplastic particles are transported through the atmosphere over long distances, depositing in remote areas including the Arctic and high mountains. Atmospheric transport is now recognized as a major pathway spreading microplastic contamination to virtually every part of the planet.

2020 C&EN Global Enterprise 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Atmospheric Pathways, Depositions, and Remediation Techniques

This review examines airborne microplastics -- fibers, fragments, and films between 1 micrometer and 5 mm -- found across the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere, discussing their sources, transport pathways, and remediation technologies. The authors highlight growing global concern about inhalation exposure and assess current and emerging techniques for atmospheric microplastic removal.

2024 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric Micro and Nanoplastics: An Enormous Microscopic Problem

This review examined atmospheric micro- and nanoplastic pollution, synthesizing evidence that plastic particles are suspended, transported, and deposited globally through atmospheric pathways, concluding that air represents a major but understudied route of human exposure and environmental dispersal requiring integration into plastic pollution models.

2020 Sustainability 113 citations
Article Tier 2

The wheel of time: The environmental dance of aged micro- and nanoplastics and their biological resonance

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics change as they age in the environment through exposure to sunlight, water, and biological activity. Aged plastics behave differently than fresh ones: they accumulate faster in ecosystems, are more easily taken up by organisms, and can release trapped chemicals as they break down. The findings suggest that the real-world health and environmental risks of microplastics may be greater than lab studies using new, unweathered plastics indicate.

2025 Eco-Environment & Health 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Dynamics of airborne microplastics, appraisal and distributional behaviour in atmosphere; a review

This review explores the sources, distribution, and behaviour of airborne microplastics in the terrestrial environment. Researchers summarize how factors like size, density, and atmospheric conditions influence microplastic transport and concentration in air. The study highlights that airborne exposure represents a significant and relatively understudied route of human microplastic intake, with particles capable of carrying organic pollutants that bioaccumulate through food webs.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 66 citations
Article Tier 2

An Atmospheric Chemistry Perspective on Airborne Micro- and Nanoplastic Particles

This perspective paper highlights that airborne micro- and nanoplastics are an understudied form of air pollution that undergoes chemical changes in the atmosphere, potentially making the particles more harmful when inhaled. The authors call for atmospheric scientists and microplastic researchers to work together to better understand health risks from breathing in these particles.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 15 citations