Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Adsorption of typical natural organic matter on microplastics in aqueous solution: Kinetics, isotherm, influence factors and mechanism

Researchers investigated humic acid adsorption onto PVC and PS microplastics, finding that pH, ion species, particle size, and surfactants significantly influenced adsorption capacity through mechanisms including halogen bonding, hydrogen bonding, and pi-pi interactions.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 131 citations
Article Tier 2

Change in adsorption behavior of aquatic humic substances on microplastic through biotic and abiotic aging processes

Researchers found that both UV irradiation and microbial aging of polyethylene microplastics significantly altered their surface chemistry, changing how aquatic humic substances adsorb onto the plastic surface and highlighting the importance of weathering state in assessing microplastic-contaminant interactions.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions between polypropylene microplastics (PP-MPs) and humic acid influenced by aging of MPs

Researchers examined how aging affects polypropylene microplastic interactions with humic acid, finding that aged microplastics with increased surface oxygen groups showed stronger adsorption of humic acid compared to pristine particles, altering their environmental behavior.

2022 Water Research 145 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of microplastics on the adherence of coexisting background organic contaminants to natural organic matter in water

Researchers examined how microplastics affect the binding of organic contaminants (PCBs and hydroxy PCBs) to humic acid in water, finding that microplastics caused contaminants to migrate from humic acid to plastic surfaces. This redistribution effect could alter the bioavailability and environmental risk of co-occurring organic pollutants.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Insight into interactions of polystyrene microplastics with different types and compositions of dissolved organic matter

Researchers investigated how polystyrene microplastics interact with different types of dissolved organic matter, finding that fulvic acid and humic acid adsorb onto microplastics through distinct mechanisms, which influences microplastic transport and transformation in the environment.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 98 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic properties and their interaction with hydrophobic organic contaminants: a review

This review examines the physical and chemical properties of microplastics that determine how they interact with hydrophobic organic contaminants in the environment. Researchers found that factors like polymer type, particle size, weathering, and surface chemistry all influence how strongly microplastics bind to co-occurring pollutants. The findings suggest that microplastics can serve as carriers for harmful chemicals, potentially increasing exposure risks for organisms that ingest them.

2022 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 169 citations
Article Tier 2

The effects of environmental conditions on the enrichment of antibiotics on microplastics in simulated natural water column

Researchers investigated how environmental ageing conditions affect the ability of microplastics to adsorb the antibiotic tetracycline, finding that pH, ionic strength, and temperature had little effect, but humic acid significantly reduced adsorption capacity. The reduction was attributed to humic acid covering plastic surfaces, altering hydrophobicity, and competing for adsorption sites via electrostatic repulsion.

2018 Environmental Research 121 citations
Article Tier 2

Surface functional group dependent enthalpic and entropic contributions to molecular adsorption on colloidal microplastics

This chemistry study measured how different organic molecules (charged and neutral) stick to the surface of various microplastic particles in water, finding that the plastic's surface chemistry strongly influences the strength and nature of these interactions. The work reveals that both electrostatic attraction and water structure at the plastic surface play a role in determining what contaminants microplastics can carry. This matters because microplastics act as "carriers" for other pollutants, and understanding the binding chemistry helps predict which toxins hitchhike with plastics into ecosystems and organisms.

2025 Soft Matter 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoscale interaction mechanism between bubbles and microplastics under the influence of natural organic matter in simulated marine environment

Researchers used atomic force microscopy to measure the nanoscale interactions between air bubbles and different types of microplastics in simulated seawater. They found that hydrophobic plastics like polystyrene and PVC showed stronger bubble attachment than hydrophilic ones, and that humic acid in the water significantly weakened these interactions. The study suggests that natural organic matter in oceans may reduce the tendency of microplastics to be carried to the surface by bubbles, affecting how they circulate in marine environments.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption of neutral organic compounds on polar and nonpolar microplastics: Prediction and insight into mechanisms based on pp-LFERs

Researchers measured adsorption of 18 neutral organic compounds on polar and nonpolar microplastics and found that polar microplastics such as polybutylene succinate and polycaprolactone showed greater adsorption capacity than nonpolar types, with hydrophobic partitioning dominating on all plastics and polar interactions providing additional uptake on polar polymers.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 70 citations
Article Tier 2

New insights into the distribution and interaction mechanism of microplastics with humic acid in river sediments

Researchers found that microplastics and humic acids interact significantly in river sediments, with humic acid coating altering microplastic surface properties and affecting their distribution at different sediment depths, influencing the environmental fate and pollutant-carrying capacity of microplastics.

2022 Chemosphere 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental condition-dependent effects of aquatic humic substances on the distribution of phenanthrene in microplastic-contaminated aquatic systems

This study examined how varying concentrations and types of aquatic humic substances influence the distribution of phenanthrene between microplastics and water, finding that humic substance composition significantly modulates contaminant partitioning in microplastic-contaminated systems.

2024 Environmental Pollution 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on polystyrene microplastics in aquatic environments: Kinetic, isotherm and site energy distribution analysis

Polystyrene microplastics adsorbed both humic and fulvic acids from water via hydrophobic and pi-pi interactions, with humic acid showing stronger binding due to higher molecular energy sites. The results indicate that dissolved organic matter in natural waters will coat microplastic surfaces and alter their environmental behavior.

2020 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 214 citations
Article Tier 2

Strong influence of surfactants on virgin hydrophobic microplastics adsorbing ionic organic pollutants

Researchers found that surfactants cause hydrophobic microplastics to adsorb ionic organic pollutants at much higher rates than previously recognized, revealing that the typical assumption of minimal interaction between hydrophobic plastics and hydrophilic contaminants underestimates real-world pollutant uptake. The findings indicate that surfactant ubiquity in environmental waters substantially alters microplastic pollutant-carrying capacity.

2020 Environmental Pollution 100 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and organic contaminants: Investigation of the sorption process on different polymer types

Researchers investigated sorption of organic contaminants onto microplastics collected from environmental samples, finding that real-world MPs had different sorption capacities than laboratory-prepared particles due to surface aging, biofouling, and co-sorption of natural organic matter.

2025 Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Humic compounds in marine ecosystems - Ecological importance in transitional Mediterranean zones

This review examines humic substances — naturally occurring organic compounds in marine water — and their ecological roles in Mediterranean transitional zones. Humic substances can interact with microplastics in seawater, coating their surfaces and affecting how plastic particles behave, aggregate, and are taken up by marine organisms.

2023 E3S Web of Conferences
Article Tier 2

Insight into interactions between microplastics and fulvic acid: Mechanisms affected by microplastics type

This study explored how different types of microplastics bind to fulvic acid, a key component of dissolved organic matter in environmental waters, finding that the polymer type significantly affected binding strength and mechanism. The results help explain how microplastics interact with natural organic matter in aquatic environments.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Insights into the characteristics, adsorption and desorption behaviors of microplastics aged with or without fulvic acid

Researchers investigated how fulvic acid, a key component of dissolved organic matter, influences the aging, adsorption, and desorption behavior of microplastics under UV radiation, finding that water environmental factors significantly alter the surface properties and contaminant-binding capacity of aged microplastics.

2022 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of Organic Matter and Speciation on the Dynamics of Trace Metal Adsorption on Microplastics in Marine Conditions

Researchers evaluated how dissolved organic matter in the form of humic acid influences the adsorption dynamics of essential and toxic trace metals — including cobalt, copper, nickel, zinc, cadmium, and lead — onto polyethylene and polystyrene microplastics under simulated marine conditions. The study found that humic acid altered metal speciation and reduced adsorption onto microplastic surfaces, demonstrating that natural organic matter substantially modifies the role of microplastics as trace metal vectors in the ocean.

2024 Toxics 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption of Tannic Acid and Macromolecular Humic/Fulvic Acid onto Polystyrene Microplastics: A Comparison Study

Researchers investigated how dissolved organic matter components — humic acid, fulvic acid, and tannic acid — adsorb onto polystyrene microplastics, finding that pH and ionic conditions (particularly divalent cations like Ca2+) significantly influence adsorption behavior and thus microplastic environmental fate.

2022 Water 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption behavior of organic pollutants on microplastics

This review summarizes the main mechanisms by which microplastics adsorb organic pollutants, including hydrophobic interactions, electrostatic forces, and hydrogen bonding. Researchers found that particle size, surface area, aging, and environmental factors like pH and temperature significantly influence how much pollution microplastics can carry. The study highlights the need for more field-based research to understand how microplastics behave as pollutant carriers in real environmental conditions.

2021 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 822 citations
Article Tier 2

Influencing Mechanisms of Exogenous and Endogenous Dissolved Organic Matter on the Adsorption of Tetracycline on UV ‐Light Aged Microplastics

Researchers investigated how humic acid and microplastic-derived dissolved organic matter (MP-DOM) influence tetracycline adsorption onto UV-aged polyethylene and polystyrene microplastics, finding that UV aging increased surface area and functional groups on the plastics while dissolved organic matter altered adsorption capacity through competitive and facilitative mechanisms.

2025 Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation
Article Tier 2

Interactions of humic acid with pristine poly (lactic acid) microplastics in aqueous solution

Researchers studied the adsorption of humic acid onto polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics in water, finding that humic acid forms a coating on PLA surfaces through hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions, altering the environmental behavior of this biodegradable plastic.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 28 citations
Article Tier 2

A comparative study of microplastics under the influence of soil-typical eco-coronas through laboratory and field incubation experiments

Researchers compared the formation and properties of soil-typical eco-coronas on microplastics through both laboratory incubation and real-world field experiments, examining how natural organic matter coatings of proteins, carbohydrates, and humic acids alter microplastic surface hydrophobicity and transport behaviour. The study found that eco-corona composition significantly influences how microplastics move through terrestrial environments and interact with soil organisms.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)