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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Quantifying the critical regulator role of irradiation-enhanced electric field in nanoplastics aggregation with heavy metals
ClearNon-Negligible Effects of UV Irradiation on Transformation and Environmental Risks of Microplastics in the Water Environment
This review examines how UV irradiation drives photoaging of microplastics in aquatic environments, altering their surface chemistry, mechanical properties, and adsorption capacity for co-pollutants, and thereby amplifying their ecotoxicological risks beyond those of virgin plastic particles.
Microplastic degradations in simulated UV light, natural light and natural water body: A comparison investigation
Researchers compared how microplastics made of PVC, polyethylene, and polyamide break down under UV light, natural sunlight, and real-world water body conditions, finding that natural environments cause more complex degradation involving both biofilm growth and heavy metal interactions. Importantly, microplastics in natural water can both release and re-absorb heavy metals over time, complicating their environmental risk profile.
Progress on the photo aging mechanism of microplastics and related impact factors in water environment
This review examined the photo-aging mechanisms of microplastics in aquatic environments, finding that solar UV radiation drives oxidation reactions that alter surface chemistry, fragment particles further, and enhance their capacity to adsorb and release co-occurring pollutants.
Влияние ультрафиолетового излучения на фрагментацию полимеров в водной среде
This review examines how UV radiation drives polymer fragmentation in aquatic environments through autocatalytic thermal oxidation initiated by solar radiation, which combined with wind and mechanical stress causes molecular chain scission. The authors also discuss how prior UV aging accelerates subsequent mechanical fragmentation, providing a mechanistic framework for understanding microplastic generation from larger plastic items in water.
Exposure Order to Photoaging and Humic Acids Significantly Modifies the Aggregation and Transformation of Nanoplastics in Aqueous Solutions
Researchers discovered that the order in which nanoplastics are exposed to sunlight and natural organic matter significantly changes how they clump together and behave in water. Nanoplastics aged by sunlight before encountering humic acids behaved differently than those exposed in the reverse order. This finding is important for predicting how nanoplastics actually move and persist in real-world water environments.
Linking UV aging of polymers and microplastics formation: An assessment employing various characterization techniques
Researchers examined the link between UV aging of plastic polymers and the generation of microplastics in marine environments, using environmental assessment tools to model the process. The study clarifies how photodegradation rates and polymer type influence the rate and quantity of microplastic formation.
Mechanistic insights into electric field-driven specific ion effects on nanoplastics aggregation in heavy metal co-contaminated aquatic systems
Researchers investigated how heavy metal ions (Pb, Cu, Cd, Zn) drive nanoplastic aggregation in contaminated water, finding that strong electric fields at nanoplastic surfaces enhance metal-particle bonding through polarization effects, with lead causing aggregation at far lower concentrations than zinc, explaining why different metals pose different risks in co-contaminated aquatic systems.
Intertwined synergistic abiotic and biotic degradation of polypropylene pellets in marine mesocosms.
This study used marine mesocosms to examine how UV radiation and biological communities interact to degrade polypropylene plastic pellets, finding that these two factors worked together to fragment the plastic more rapidly than either alone. The research improves understanding of how microplastics form in ocean environments through the combined action of sunlight and marine organisms.
Natural Organic Matter Stabilizes Pristine Nanoplastics but Destabilizes Photochemical Weathered Nanoplastics in Monovalent Electrolyte Solutions
This study examined how sunlight weathering and natural organic matter coatings change the behavior of nanoplastics in water. Researchers found that organic matter stabilizes fresh nanoplastics but actually destabilizes sun-weathered ones, meaning aged nanoplastics in natural waters may clump together and settle differently than expected, affecting where they end up in aquatic environments.
UV-degradation is a key driver of the fate and impacts of marine plastics. How can laboratory experiments be designed to effectively inform risk assessment?
Researchers reviewed laboratory studies on how UV light breaks down marine plastics, finding that sunlight-driven degradation is the primary force fragmenting plastics into micro- and nanoplastics and releasing toxic chemicals into seawater, while calling for better-standardized experiments to make lab findings more applicable to real ocean conditions.
Aggregation kinetics and stability of biodegradable nanoplastics in aquatic environments: Effects of UV-weathering and proteins
Researchers investigated the aggregation behavior of biodegradable nanoplastics (PBAT) in aquatic environments, finding that UV weathering and protein presence significantly alter their colloidal stability and aggregation kinetics, which influences their environmental fate and transport.
Environmental Degradation of Microplastics: How to Measure Fragmentation Rates to Secondary Micro- and Nanoplastic Fragments and Dissociation into Dissolved Organics
Researchers developed an adapted protocol for measuring UV-driven fragmentation of microplastics into nano-sized fragments and dissolved organics, providing a standardized method to better understand microplastic degradation rates in the environment.
UV-driven fragmentation of plastics in an aquatic environment: laboratory studies
This laboratory study examined how UV light causes plastic debris in water to fragment into smaller and smaller pieces over time. Understanding the rates and pathways of UV-driven fragmentation is important for predicting how quickly large plastic items break down into the microplastics that eventually enter the food chain.
Photoreactive Bromide Ions as Overlooked Regulators of Nanoplastic Surface Chemistry and Aggregation in Sunlit Seawater
Researchers investigated how seawater's bromide ions alter nanoplastic behavior under UV light, finding that bromine radicals accelerate surface oxidation and coating degradation in a surface-chemistry-dependent manner, causing amine-coated plastics to aggregate faster while plain and carboxyl-coated types form large microscale aggregates through calcium bridging.
Dissolved Organic Matter Enhanced the Aggregation and Oxidation of Nanoplastics under Simulated Sunlight Irradiation in Water
Dissolved organic matter was found to enhance both the aggregation and photooxidation of nanoplastics under simulated sunlight in water, with humic substances promoting particle clustering and accelerating surface oxidation. The results indicate that organic matter content in natural waters strongly influences nanoplastic fate and transformation.
Linking UV aging of polymers and microplastics formation: An assessment employing various characterization techniques
This study used environmental assessment tools to model how UV aging of plastic polymers drives microplastic formation in marine environments. The analysis identified polymer-specific degradation rates and environmental conditions that accelerate the conversion of plastic debris into microplastics.
Quantitative study of microplastic degradation in urban hydrosystems: Comparing in situ environmentally aged microplastics vs. artificially aged materials generated via accelerated photo-oxidation
Researchers compared how polyethylene microplastics degrade in real urban water environments versus under controlled laboratory UV exposure. They found that lab-aged plastics showed primarily physical and chemical changes from UV light, while microplastics collected from stormwater and sediments also showed signs of biological degradation and hydrolysis. The study demonstrates that artificial aging alone does not fully replicate the complex degradation processes microplastics undergo in actual urban water systems.
The fate of microplastics in the environment: Systematic studies to determine release rates of secondary micro- and nanoplastics and water-soluble organics induced by photolysis and hydrolysis
Researchers conducted systematic studies on the photolytic and hydrolytic degradation of microplastics using three photolysis protocols and multiple polymer types to determine release rates of secondary micro- and nanoplastics and water-soluble organics, providing mechanistic data needed for environmental fate and risk assessment.
The fate of microplastics in the environment: Systematic studies to determine release rates of secondary micro- and nanoplastics and water-soluble organics induced by photolysis and hydrolysis
Researchers conducted systematic studies on the photolytic and hydrolytic degradation of microplastics using three photolysis protocols and multiple polymer types to determine release rates of secondary micro- and nanoplastics and water-soluble organics, providing mechanistic data needed for environmental fate and risk assessment.
Fate of polystyrene and polyethylene nanoplastics exposed to UV in water
Researchers found that UV irradiation progressively degrades polystyrene and polyethylene nanoplastics dispersed in water, causing them to become porous, fragment, and ultimately degrade completely, revealing the photochemical fate of nanoplastics in sunlit aquatic environments.
UVA-induced weathering of microplastics in seawater: surface property transformations and kinetics
Researchers studied how UVA radiation weathers microplastics in seawater, examining changes to surface properties and degradation rates. The study developed a model integrating an aging index with degradation kinetics, finding that UV exposure significantly transforms microplastic surface characteristics, which affects their behavior and potential ecological impact in marine environments.
Study on the impact of photoaging on the generation of very small microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) and the wettability of plastic surface
Experiments using UV light to artificially age six common plastic types showed that sunlight (photoaging) accelerates the breakdown of plastics into very small microplastics and nanoplastics and makes plastic surfaces rougher and more chemically reactive. Understanding how different polymer structures respond to light aging is important for predicting which plastics will fragment fastest in the environment and generate the most hazardous small particles.
Environmental degradation and fragmentation of microplastics: dependence on polymer type, humidity, UV dose and temperature
Researchers systematically tested how UV light, temperature, and humidity cause five common plastic types to break apart into secondary microplastics and nanoplastics. They found that the type of plastic — not the aging conditions — was the main factor determining how quickly it fragmented and what byproducts it released, data that can improve models predicting how plastics break down in the environment.
Simulated experimental investigation of microplastic weathering in marine environment
Researchers simulated microplastic weathering under marine conditions, finding that exposure to UV light, saltwater, and mechanical abrasion progressively degraded plastic surfaces, increased surface roughness, and enhanced the adsorption capacity of contaminants onto microplastic particles.