Papers

20 results
|
Article Tier 2

Co-occurrence and Interaction of Microplastics with Heavy Metals

This review examines the co-occurrence of microplastics and heavy metals in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, synthesizing evidence on how MPs adsorb metals, alter their bioavailability, and facilitate their transfer up food chains, compounding toxicological risks beyond either pollutant alone.

2025
Article Tier 2

Influence of Microplastics on the Mobility, Bioavailability, and Toxicity of Heavy Metals: A Review

This review examines how microplastics interact with heavy metals in the environment, potentially influencing the metals' mobility, bioavailability, and toxicity to living organisms. Researchers found that microplastics can adsorb heavy metals and transport them to new locations, but the interactions depend on the type of plastic, metal, and environmental conditions. The study highlights that microplastics acting as carriers for toxic metals represents an underappreciated environmental and health risk.

2021 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 115 citations
Article Tier 2

Research Progress on the Adsorption and Their Mechanisms of Heavy Metal in Soil By Microplastics

This review examines how microplastics adsorb heavy metals in soil environments, summarizing mechanisms including electrostatic attraction, surface complexation, and hydrophobic interactions that make MPs effective vectors for metal transport and bioavailability.

2025 International journal of agriculture and food sciences research.
Article Tier 2

Microplastic-mediated environmental behavior of metal contaminants: mechanism and implication

This review examines how microplastics interact with heavy metals across water, soil, and air environments, acting as carriers that concentrate and transport toxic metals. Researchers found that microplastics can increase the bioavailability and toxicity of metal contaminants to living organisms. The study highlights major gaps in current analytical methods and calls for better tools to understand these complex pollutant interactions.

2024 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 8 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastic-Toxic Chemical Interaction: A Review Study on Quantified Levels, Mechanism and Implication

This review summarizes quantified levels of heavy metals and hydrophobic organic contaminants sorbed onto microplastics in environmental media, examining adsorption and desorption mechanisms and discussing health implications of ingested microplastics acting as vectors for toxic chemical transport.

2019 Preprints.org 21 citations
Article Tier 2

A Mini-Review On The Microplastic-Heavy Metal Interactions And The Factors Affecting Their Fate In Aquatic Habitats

This mini-review examines how microplastics interact with heavy metals in aquatic environments, serving as vectors that can transport toxic pollutants. Researchers describe how factors like polymer type, surface area, water pH, and salinity influence the adsorption of heavy metals onto microplastic surfaces, potentially increasing their bioavailability to aquatic organisms.

2024 Communications Faculty of Science University of Ankara Series C Biology Geological Engineering and Geophysical Engineering 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction of microplastics with metal(oid)s in aquatic environments: What is done so far?

This review assembled the mechanisms by which microplastics sorb hazardous metals and metalloids in aquatic environments, examining how weathering, biofilm formation, and environmental conditions influence the transport and bioavailability of these contaminants.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics with adsorbed contaminants: Mechanisms and Treatment

This review examines how microplastics adsorb environmental contaminants including heavy metals, organic pollutants, and pathogens, and surveys treatment methods for removing contaminated microplastics from water. Researchers found that microplastics can act as vectors for hazardous substances, potentially increasing their bioavailability and toxicity in aquatic ecosystems. The study evaluates emerging remediation technologies and highlights the complex environmental risks posed by microplastics carrying adsorbed pollutants.

2021 Environmental Challenges 321 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions of microplastics with heavy metals in the aquatic environment: Mechanisms and mitigation

This review synthesized mechanisms of heavy metal adsorption onto microplastics in aquatic environments and evaluated strategies for removing both contaminants simultaneously. The authors found that temperature, salinity, and plastic surface aging govern metal binding, and identified hybrid adsorbent materials as the most promising approach for co-removal of metals and microplastics from water.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances
Article Tier 2

Interaction of microplastics with heavy metals in soil: Mechanisms, influencing factors and biological effects

This review summarizes how microplastics and heavy metals interact in soil, where microplastics can absorb and carry toxic metals through the food chain and into the human body. Aging and weathering of microplastics changes their surface properties, making them better at picking up heavy metals, which raises concerns about combined exposure through contaminated crops and water.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 96 citations
Article Tier 2

[Research Progress on Trojan-horse Effect of Microplastics and Heavy Metals in Freshwater Environment].

This review examines the Trojan-horse effect in freshwater environments where microplastics adsorb and transport heavy metals, significantly increasing their potential ecological harm due to the large surface area and persistence of microplastic particles.

2023 PubMed 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Review on the relationship between microplastics and heavy metals in freshwater near mining areas

This review synthesized knowledge on the interaction between microplastics and heavy metals in freshwater environments, covering adsorption mechanisms, combined toxicity, and the role of microplastics as metal vectors. Co-contamination was found to amplify ecological risks beyond what either stressor causes alone.

2024 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 6 citations
Review Tier 2

Microplastics and potentially toxic elements: A review of interactions, fate and bioavailability in the environment

This review summarizes how microplastics interact with toxic metals in the environment, finding that microplastics absorb and transport metals through soil and water via processes like electrostatic attraction and surface bonding. When organisms consume microplastics carrying toxic metals, they can experience greater harm than from either pollutant alone. This combined threat is relevant to human health because contaminated microplastics in the food chain could deliver concentrated doses of toxic metals to people through food and water.

2023 Environmental Pollution 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as a vehicle of heavy metals in aquatic environments: A review of adsorption factors, mechanisms, and biological effects

This review summarizes how microplastics in water can absorb and carry toxic heavy metals like lead and cadmium, making them more dangerous to aquatic life than either pollutant alone. Environmental factors such as water acidity, salinity, and organic matter influence how much metal sticks to microplastic surfaces. Since contaminated seafood is a major source of human exposure, understanding these interactions is important for assessing health risks.

2021 Journal of Environmental Management 385 citations
Review Tier 2

Research progress on the role of biofilm in heavy metals adsorption-desorption characteristics of microplastics: A review

This review examines how biofilm formation on microplastics in aquatic environments modifies their properties and changes how they adsorb and release heavy metals. Researchers found that biofilm-covered microplastics behave significantly differently than bare microplastics, which has important implications for understanding the combined environmental risks of microplastics and heavy metal contamination.

2023 Environmental Pollution 53 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment of soil microplastics: An overview on toxicity, effects on heavy metals adsorption, solid-phase extraction, and detection techniques

This review examined how microplastics in soil enter the food chain and pose human health risks, with particular attention to their role as carriers for heavy metals. Agricultural practices like plastic mulching and sewage sludge application were identified as major sources of soil MP contamination.

2025 Sustainable Environment
Article Tier 2

Adsorption of Pollutants on Microplastics in Freshwater

This book chapter examines adsorption of co-contaminants—including heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals—onto microplastic surfaces in freshwater environments, reviewing how plastic particle characteristics determine their capacity to concentrate and transport associated pollutants.

2025
Systematic Review Tier 1

A systematic review of microplastics in the environment: Sampling, separation, characterization and coexistence mechanisms with pollutants

Massive microplastic pollution was documented across Africa, Asia, India, South Africa, North America, and Europe, with MPs acting as carriers of heavy metals that enter organisms and cause harm. The adsorption capacity of organic pollutants onto microplastics correlated with hydrophobicity, surface area, and functional group characteristics.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 71 citations
Article Tier 2

The potential of microplastics as carriers of metals

Five types of microplastics were tested for their ability to adsorb heavy metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) in different water matrices, finding significant adsorption of lead, chromium, and zinc—especially on polyethylene and PVC—with surface area and porosity as key drivers. The study identifies microplastics as potential vectors for heavy metal transport and transfer through aquatic food chains.

2019 Environmental Pollution 642 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction of Chemical Contaminants with Microplastics

This review examines how chemical contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals adsorb onto microplastic surfaces and are transported through the environment. Microplastics act as vectors that concentrate and move toxic chemicals, potentially amplifying human exposure through food and water.

2023