Papers

61,005 results
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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)
Article Tier 2

Understanding the formation and influence of soil-typical eco-coronas on microplastics through laboratory and field incubation experiments

Researchers conducted laboratory and field incubation experiments to characterize eco-corona formation on microplastics in soil, finding that soil-derived organic matter including humic acids, proteins, and carbohydrates forms a coating that alters MP surface properties, transport behavior, and adsorption efficiency in terrestrial environments.

2025
Article Tier 2

Soil Metabolome Impacts the Formation of the Eco-corona and Adsorption Processes on Microplastic Surfaces

This study found that natural molecules in soil form a coating (called an eco-corona) on microplastic surfaces, which changes how chemicals stick to them. The type and amount of coating depends on the soil's chemical makeup, meaning microplastics behave differently in different soils. This matters because it affects what pollutants microplastics can carry into the food chain and water supply.

2023 Environmental Science & Technology 67 citations
Article Tier 2

Impacts of Eco-Corona on Surface Properties of Nanoplastics

When tiny plastic particles in the environment get coated with natural materials from soil and water (called an "eco-corona"), it changes how they behave and move through sand and soil. This coating can make different types of plastics act more similarly to each other, which could affect how they spread through the environment. Understanding how these coated plastic particles move is important because it helps us predict where microplastics might end up in our water and food supply.

2026
Article Tier 2

The Composition of the Eco-corona Acquired by Micro- and Nanoscale Plastics Impacts on their Ecotoxicity and Interactions with Co-pollutants

This review examines how the 'eco-corona' — a layer of environmental biomolecules adsorbing onto plastic particle surfaces — alters the toxicity, transport, and interaction with co-pollutants of micro- and nanoplastics, emphasizing that this biological coating fundamentally changes how plastics behave in living organisms.

2022 4 citations
Article Tier 2

The development of eco-coronas on agricultural nanomaterials reduces their harmful impact: a review

This review examines how 'eco-coronas' — layers of soil biomolecules that form on agricultural nanomaterials including microplastics — affect the toxicity of those particles to crops and soil organisms. The eco-corona can reduce or modify the harmful impacts of nanomaterials by changing their surface chemistry. Understanding how eco-coronas develop on microplastics in soil helps predict their real-world environmental behavior, which may differ from laboratory studies using clean particles.

2021 SPAST Abstracts
Article Tier 2

The interaction of micro/nano plastics and the environment: Effects of ecological corona on the toxicity to aquatic organisms.

This review examines how the ecological corona — the layer of organic matter, proteins, and microbes that form on micro- and nanoplastic surfaces in water — affects their toxicity to aquatic organisms. The ecological corona can either increase or decrease toxicity depending on its composition, making real-world plastic hazard assessment more complex than laboratory tests with clean particles suggest.

2022 Ecotoxicology and environmental safety
Article Tier 2

Eco-Corona Formation Enhances Cotransport of Nanoplastics and Organic Contaminants in Porous Media

Researchers demonstrated that eco-corona formation, the coating of nanoplastics by environmental macromolecules, significantly enhances the co-transport of nanoplastics and organic contaminants through porous media like soil. The study found that even small amounts of eco-corona on polystyrene nanoplastics promoted the transport of the pollutant 4-nonylphenol, suggesting this natural coating process may accelerate the spread of both nanoplastics and associated contaminants through the environment.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity of micro/nanoplastics in the environment: Roles of plastisphere and eco-corona

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics gain biological coatings in the environment: larger microplastics develop a "plastisphere" of microorganisms on their surface, while smaller nanoplastics get wrapped in proteins and organic matter forming an "eco-corona." Both coatings change how toxic the particles are to living organisms and humans. The review highlights that studying plastic particles without these coatings, as most lab experiments do, may underestimate or mischaracterize their real-world health risks.

2023 Soil & Environmental Health 88 citations
Article Tier 2

How microplastics crosses the buoyancy barrier

Researchers used Colloidal Probe-AFM to study nanoscale interactions between eco-corona-coated microplastic particles and surfaces under varying ionic conditions, finding that natural organic matter coatings substantially alter surface properties and aggregation behavior in ways that can allow buoyant plastics to sink.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Eco-Corona Dictates Mobility of Nanoplastics in Saturated Porous Media: The Critical Role of Preferential Binding of Macromolecules

The eco-corona that forms on nanoplastic surfaces through interaction with humic substances and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was found to critically determine nanoplastic mobility through saturated porous media. Humic-coated nanoplastics showed greater mobility than EPS-coated ones, suggesting natural organic matter composition governs nanoplastic transport in groundwater systems.

2022 Environmental Science & Technology 58 citations
Article Tier 2

Eco-corona formation and associated ecotoxicological impacts of nanoplastics in the environment

This review examines how nanoplastics interact with natural organic matter in the environment to form an 'eco-corona,' a coating of biomolecules on the particle surface that changes their behavior and toxicity. Researchers found that eco-corona formation alters nanoplastic stability, transport, and biological interactions in ways that can either increase or decrease their harmful effects on organisms. The study highlights the importance of considering these surface transformations when assessing the real-world environmental risks of nanoplastic pollution.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 75 citations
Article Tier 2

Unravelling protein corona formation on pristine and leached microplastics

Researchers found that when microplastics encounter proteins in biological fluids, they get coated in a "protein corona" that depends heavily on the plastic's chemical additives, surface area, and how much it has been weathered in the environment. This coating changes how microplastics behave in the body, meaning toxicity studies need to account for these real-world surface changes.

2024 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Repulsive interactions of eco-corona covered microplastic particles quantitatively follow modelling of polymer brushes

Researchers studied how the 'eco-corona' — a layer of natural organic molecules that coats microplastics in the environment — affects how plastic particles interact with each other and with surfaces. The eco-corona increased repulsion between particles, following patterns predicted by polymer brush physics models. Understanding the eco-corona is important for predicting how microplastics behave and accumulate in real-world environments.

2021 arXiv (Cornell University) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Mobility of soil-biodegradable nanoplastics in unsaturated porous media affected by protein-corona

Biodegradable plastic mulches used in agriculture can release nanoplastics into soil, and this study shows that a protein corona — a coating of soil proteins — affects how those nanoplastics move through unsaturated soil layers. The finding matters because biodegradable labels do not guarantee that plastic particles stay put; they can still migrate toward groundwater depending on soil chemistry.

2024 Environmental Science Nano 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Role of the Protein Corona in the Colloidal Behavior of Microplastics

Researchers investigated how protein coronas form on polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics in biological media, finding that proteins act as surfactants that alter the colloidal behavior and stability of microplastics in aquatic environments.

2023 Langmuir 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Biofilm (Eco-Corona) Formation from Microplastics in Freshwater

This review examines eco-corona and biofilm formation on microplastics in freshwater environments, explaining how microbial colonization of plastic surfaces changes their buoyancy, surface chemistry, and biological interactions, with implications for MP transport and ecotoxicity.

2025
Article Tier 2

Repulsive Interactions of Eco-corona-Covered Microplastic Particles Quantitatively Follow Modeling of Polymer Brushes

Researchers demonstrated that the eco-corona layer formed by natural organic matter on microplastic surfaces creates long-range repulsive interactions between particles, following the polymer brush model and fundamentally altering how microplastics behave in the environment.

2022 Langmuir 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Unraveling the interfacial fate of nanoplastics in soil: proteomics and molecular dynamics decipher the protein corona governed by surface functionalization

This study used proteomics and molecular dynamics simulations to examine how soil proteins coat nanoplastics — forming what is called a 'protein corona' — and how that coating changes depending on the nanoplastic's surface chemistry. The protein corona affects how nanoplastics move through soil and interact with living organisms, making this research important for understanding the true environmental fate of nanoplastics once they enter land ecosystems.

2026 Environmental Science Nano
Article Tier 2

Coronas of micro/nano plastics: a key determinant in their risk assessments

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics develop surface coatings called coronas when they interact with biological and environmental substances. These corona layers, formed from proteins, organic matter, and other materials, can significantly change how plastic particles behave in the body and environment, affecting their uptake, distribution, and toxicity. The study suggests that understanding these surface coatings is essential for accurately assessing the real-world risks of plastic particle exposure.

2022 Particle and Fibre Toxicology 143 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction of nanoplastics with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in the aquatic environment: A special reference to eco-corona formation and associated impacts

This review examines how nanoplastics in aquatic environments interact with natural biomolecules to form an eco-corona coating that fundamentally changes their behavior and ecological impact. Researchers found that this biological coating alters the surface chemistry, transport, and toxicity of nanoplastic particles in ways that depend on environmental conditions. The study highlights that understanding eco-corona formation is essential for accurately assessing the real-world risks of nanoplastic pollution.

2021 Water Research 204 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecotoxicological significance of bio-corona formation on micro/nanoplastics in aquatic organisms

This review examined the ecotoxicological significance of bio-corona formation on micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic organisms, exploring how protein and biomolecule coatings alter the bioavailability, toxicity, and environmental fate of plastic particles.

2023 RSC Advances 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions between micro(nano)plastics and natural organic matter: implications for toxicity mitigation in aquatic species

This review examines how natural organic matter found in water can reduce the harmful effects of micro- and nanoplastics on aquatic species. Researchers found that natural organic matter forms a coating called an eco-corona on plastic particles, which can decrease their toxicity to organisms like fish and water fleas. The findings suggest that the natural composition of waterways plays an important role in moderating the ecological impact of plastic pollution.

2025 Aquatic Toxicology 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Transport of eco-corona coated nanoplastics in coastal sediments

Researchers investigated how different surface properties and eco-corona coatings affect the transport of polystyrene nanoplastics through coastal marine sediments. They found that negatively charged particles moved more easily through sediment than positively charged ones, while strong aggregation essentially immobilized unmodified particles. The formation of natural organic coatings on nanoplastics had opposing effects depending on surface charge, sometimes enhancing and sometimes inhibiting transport.

2025 Water Research 5 citations