Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Heteroaggregation of nanoplastic particles in the presence of inorganic colloids and natural organic matter

Nanoplastics were found to heteroaggregate extensively with inorganic colloids and natural organic matter in both freshwater and marine conditions, altering their size, surface charge, and settling behavior compared to pristine particles. The study demonstrates that nanoplastic behavior in natural waters is dominated by interactions with other environmental constituents rather than the intrinsic properties of the plastic alone.

2018 Environmental Science Nano 227 citations
Article Tier 2

Heteroaggregation, disaggregation, and migration of nanoplastics with nanosized activated carbon in aquatic environments: Effects of particle property, water chemistry, and hydrodynamic condition

Researchers studied how nanosized activated carbon interacts with positively and negatively charged nanoplastics under various water chemistry and hydrodynamic conditions. They found that aggregation behavior depended strongly on particle charge, pH, and the presence of natural organic matter like humic acid. The study suggests that interactions with engineered nanomaterials in aquatic environments can significantly influence how far nanoplastics travel, with implications for predicting their environmental fate.

2024 Water Research 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions between nano/micro plastics and suspended sediment in water: Implications on aggregation and settling

Interactions between nanoplastics and suspended sediment were studied in NaCl solutions, finding that large sediment particles significantly enhanced settling of nanoplastics through heteroaggregation, with the effect increasing at higher ionic strength. The study reveals how sediment-nanoplastic aggregation drives vertical transport and burial of nanoplastics in aquatic environments.

2019 Water Research 362 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of the Surface Hydrophobicity–Morphology–Functionality of Nanoplastics on Their Homoaggregation in Seawater

Researchers found that nanoplastic surface hydrophobicity, morphology, and functional chemistry strongly govern homoaggregation behavior in aquatic environments, with more hydrophobic and functionalized particles forming larger, faster-settling aggregates that alter their environmental fate and bioavailability.

2022 ACS ES&T Water 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent Advances in the Aggregation Behavior of Nanoplastics in Aquatic Systems

This review examines recent advances in understanding nanoplastic aggregation behavior in aquatic systems, focusing on how polymer surface modification and the use of novel surfactants can be designed to promote aggregation of nanoplastics from the environment. The review distinguishes this approach from conventional surfactant use aimed at dispersing insoluble compounds.

2023 International Journal of Molecular Sciences 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Agglomeration of nano- and microplastic particles in seawater by autochthonous and de novo-produced sources of exopolymeric substances

Nano- and microplastic particles in seawater were found to readily form agglomerates with naturally produced exopolymeric substances, altering their surface properties, size, and sinking behavior compared to pristine particles. The study demonstrates that natural organic matter in seawater fundamentally changes how plastic particles behave and interact with marine organisms and sediments.

2018 Marine Pollution Bulletin 165 citations
Article Tier 2

Sedimentation behavior of aggregated microplastics: Influence of particle size and water constituents in environmental waters

Laboratory experiments investigated how aggregation of microplastics with sediments and organic matter affects their sinking rates in water, finding that aggregate composition strongly influences settling velocity. These findings improve models predicting whether microplastics sink to the seafloor or remain suspended in the water column.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of different modes of adsorption of natural organic matter on the environmental fate of nanoplastics

Natural organic matter in water can stabilize nanoplastics by coating their surfaces and preventing them from clumping together and settling out, with different types of organic matter working through different physical mechanisms. Understanding this stabilization effect is important for predicting how long nanoplastics remain suspended in aquatic environments.

2020 Chemosphere 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Heteroaggregation kinetics of oppositely charged nanoplastics in aquatic environments: Effects of particle ratio, solution chemistry, and interaction sequence

Researchers investigated how oppositely charged nanoplastics clump together (heteroaggregation) in water under varying pH, salt, and natural organic matter conditions, finding that electrostatic attraction drives aggregation but humic acid retards it more than sodium alginate, while the sequence and timing of chemical interactions also significantly alters the final aggregation behavior.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 13 citations
Article Tier 2

The impact of nanoplastics on marine dissolved organic matter assembly

Researchers found that even trace concentrations of nanoplastics (10 ppb) significantly accelerate the spontaneous assembly of dissolved organic matter into particles in seawater, driven by hydrophobic interactions — a finding that could have far-reaching consequences for the ocean's largest carbon pool.

2018 The Science of The Total Environment 74 citations
Article Tier 2

Mechanistic understanding of the aggregation kinetics of nanoplastics in marine environments: Comparing synthetic and natural water matrices

Researchers investigated aggregation kinetics of polystyrene nanoplastics in marine environments, finding that organic matter type and salt concentration strongly influenced particle stability, with nanoplastics in natural seawater aggregating differently than in synthetic matrices.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Suspended clay and surfactants enhance buoyant microplastic settling

Laboratory experiments found that suspended clay particles and surfactants can enhance the settling of buoyant microplastics by promoting aggregation and density increase, providing a physico-chemical mechanism explaining how buoyant plastics can sink in natural water bodies.

2023 Communications Earth & Environment 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Heteroaggregation kinetics of nanoplastics and soot nanoparticles in aquatic environments

Researchers examined how polystyrene nanoplastics and soot particles aggregate together in aquatic environments, finding that particle ratio, salinity, pH, and dissolved organic matter all influence clumping rates — with calcium ions dramatically accelerating aggregation and potentially altering nanoplastic transport in coastal and marine waters.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Environments: Aggregation, Deposition, and Enhanced Contaminant Transport

This review examined the aggregation, deposition, and transport of microplastics and nanoplastics in aquatic environments, synthesizing how particle properties and water chemistry govern their fate and mobility in rivers, lakes, and oceans.

2017 Environmental Science & Technology 2491 citations
Article Tier 2

Aggregation Behavior of Particulate Plastics and Its Implications

This chapter reviews how microplastics aggregate with each other and with natural particles like sediment and algae in water, affecting their transport, fate, and biological availability. Heteroaggregation with natural colloids is more common than microplastic-to-microplastic clumping, which has important implications for how microplastics move through aquatic environments.

2020
Article Tier 2

Modelling the sedimentation of macro-, micro- and nanoplastics in the ocean from surface to sediment

Researchers modeled the sedimentation of macro-, micro-, and nanoplastics from the ocean surface to the seafloor, finding that biofouling and particle aggregation dramatically accelerate sinking rates and that most plastics eventually reach benthic environments.

2024
Article Tier 2

Nanoparticle Heteroagglomeration with Natural and Synthetic Suspended Particulate Matter

Researchers reviewed nanoparticle heteroagglomeration with natural and synthetic suspended particulate matter in aquatic environments, examining how the kinetics of agglomeration between nanoplastics, manufactured nanomaterials, and SPM affect nanoparticle transport and risk assessment in river systems.

2024 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Rapid flocculation and settling of positively buoyant microplastic and fine-grained sediment in natural seawater

Laboratory experiments showed that positively buoyant microplastics rapidly flocculated with fine-grained sediment in natural seawater, causing particles that would otherwise float to sink quickly. The finding has important implications for predicting microplastic fate in estuaries, where plastic-sediment aggregates may settle to the seafloor rather than dispersing.

2022 Marine Pollution Bulletin 49 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of size and surface charge on the sedimentation of nanoplastics in freshwater

Researchers investigated how size and surface charge of polystyrene nanoplastics affect their sedimentation behavior in freshwater, finding that both properties significantly influence aggregation dynamics and settling rates, with implications for predicting nanoplastic fate in aquatic environments.

2023 Chemosphere 17 citations
Article Tier 2

A review of microplastics aggregation in aquatic environment: Influence factors, analytical methods, and environmental implications

This review examines how microplastics clump together in aquatic environments, a behavior called aggregation that affects where they end up and how available they are to organisms. Researchers evaluated the factors that influence aggregation, including water chemistry, particle size, and the presence of natural organic matter. The study identifies important gaps in field research and calls for standardized methods to better understand how aggregation shapes the environmental fate of microplastics.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 353 citations
Article Tier 2

Influence of dissolved black carbon on the aggregation and deposition of polystyrene nanoplastics: Comparison with dissolved humic acid

This study compared the effects of dissolved black carbon and humic acid on polystyrene nanoplastic aggregation and deposition, finding that black carbon more strongly stabilized nanoplastics in suspension, altering their environmental transport behavior.

2021 Water Research 79 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction, Adhesion and Aggregation of Microplastic/Nanoplastic Particles: Effects of Plastic Polymer Type

This review examines how polymer type, particle size, shape, pH, ionic strength, and salt composition influence the interaction, adhesion, and aggregation behavior of microplastics and nanoplastics in aquatic and soil environments. The paper synthesizes findings on homoaggregation and heteroaggregation with natural and engineered nanoparticles, highlighting how aggregation affects particle transport and environmental fate.

2023 Asian Journal of Water Environment and Pollution 3 citations
Article Tier 2

How do microplastics interact with other particles in aquatic environments?

This study investigates how microplastics interact with other particles in aquatic environments, examining the physical and chemical mechanisms governing aggregation, adsorption, and co-transport of microplastics with suspended particles. The research is hosted on the Experiment platform for open scientific discovery funding and sharing.

2024
Article Tier 2

Impact of electrolyte and natural organic matter characteristics on the aggregation and sedimentation of polystyrene nanoplastics

Researchers examined how dissolved organic matter from different water sources affects the aggregation and sedimentation of polystyrene nanoplastics under varied salt concentrations and temperatures, finding that biopolymers form a protective 'eco-corona' around particles that strongly inhibits long-term sedimentation, while temperature influences aggregation dynamics in complex ways.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 5 citations