Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Characterization, occurrence, environmental behaviors, and risks of nanoplastics in the aquatic environment: Current status and future perspectives

This review characterized the occurrence, environmental behavior, and toxicity of nanoplastics in aquatic systems, noting that their small size gives them unique properties — including higher surface reactivity and greater bioavailability — that make them potentially more hazardous than larger microplastics, while also harder to detect.

2021 Fundamental Research 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics: Detection and impacts in aquatic environments – A review

This review examined nanoplastic detection methods and their impacts in aquatic environments, concluding that current analytical capabilities severely underestimate nanoplastic exposure levels due to the difficulty of detecting sub-micron particles. The authors called for standardized nanoplastic detection protocols to enable meaningful risk assessment.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 69 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/nanoplastics in aquatic ecosystems: Analytical challenges, ecological impacts, and mitigation strategies

This review provides a comprehensive assessment of micro- and nanoplastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems, covering detection methods, toxic effects across the food chain, and emerging cleanup strategies. Researchers highlight the limitations of current analytical techniques and the challenges of accurately measuring these tiny particles in water and living organisms. The study identifies key research priorities needed to better understand and mitigate the growing threat of plastic particle pollution in waterways.

2025 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics in aquatic environments: Origin, separation and characterization: Review

This review covers the origins, separation methods, and characterization of nanoplastics in aquatic environments. Nanoplastics (1–100 nm) are particularly concerning because their tiny size gives them a large surface area for adsorbing pollutants and allows them to penetrate biological barriers more easily than larger microplastics.

2023 Tehnika
Article Tier 2

A Latest Review on Micro- and Nanoplastics in the Aquatic Environment: The Comparative Impact of Size on Environmental Behavior and Toxic Effect

This review compares how micro-sized and nano-sized plastic particles behave differently in water environments and affect aquatic organisms. Smaller nanoplastics are generally more harmful because they can cross biological barriers, enter cells, and accumulate in tissues more readily than larger microplastics. The size-dependent differences in toxicity highlighted in this review are important for understanding which plastic particles pose the greatest risk to human health through contaminated water and seafood.

2024 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Multifaceted Aquatic Environmental Differences between Nanoplastics and Microplastics: Behavior and Fate

This review argues that nanoplastics and microplastics should be treated as two distinct types of pollutants because they behave very differently in water. Nanoplastics are far more chemically reactive, can cross biological barriers more easily, and may pose greater health risks than their larger microplastic counterparts, making it important for future research to study them separately.

2024 Environment & Health 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Differences of microplastics and nanoplastics in urban waters: Environmental behaviors, hazards, and removal

This review compares microplastics and nanoplastics in urban water systems, finding that nanoplastics are harder to remove but potentially more dangerous because their tiny size allows them to penetrate human tissue barriers more easily. The authors evaluate emerging technologies like advanced filtration and chemical oxidation that could help remove these particles from drinking water and wastewater.

2024 Water Research 51 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental Fate, Behavior, and Risk Management Approaches of Nanoplastics in the Environment

Researchers reviewed the environmental fate, behavior, and risk management of nanoplastics, which are plastic particles smaller than one micrometer. The study suggests that nanoplastics may pose greater environmental and health risks than larger microplastics due to their nanoscale properties, though significant knowledge gaps remain about their transport, transformation, and long-term ecological effects.

2024 2 citations
Article Tier 2

[Toxicology of Nanoplastics to Aquatic and Terrestrial Organism: A Critical Review].

This review examines the toxicological effects of nanoplastics on aquatic and terrestrial organisms, noting that the vast surface area of nanoplastics enables them to carry environmental pollutants into organisms. Researchers describe how nanoplastics accumulate in organs and can transfer to offspring, potentially harming subsequent generations. The study highlights the need for further research on the health threats posed by nanoplastics at environmentally relevant concentrations.

2025 PubMed 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics impact on marine biota: A review

Researchers reviewed the emerging toxicological literature on nanoplastics in marine ecosystems, distinguishing primary nanoplastics (manufactured at nanoscale) from secondary nanoplastics (fragmented from larger debris), and summarizing how nanoscale size changes particle reactivity and bioavailability in ways that differ substantially from their macro- and microscale counterparts.

2021 Environmental Pollution 213 citations
Article Tier 2

Nano-plastics and their analytical characterisation and fate in the marine environment: From source to sea

Researchers reviewed the sources, environmental fate, organism interactions, and analytical detection methods for nano-sized plastic polymers in the marine environment, concluding that nanoplastics pose the greatest ecological risk among plastic size fractions and that standardized analytical protocols for nanoplastic characterization are urgently needed.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 142 citations
Review Tier 2

Nanoplastics in the Aquatic Environment. Critical Review

This critical review synthesized the emerging science on nanoplastics in aquatic environments, covering detection challenges, sources, behavior, and toxicological evidence, and identifying major gaps in knowledge about nanoplastic-specific risks.

2015 608 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic pollution in the aquatic ecosystem: an emerging threat need to be tackled

This review summarizes the growing threat of plastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems, with a focus on how microplastics and nanoplastics enter food webs starting at the lowest levels. The authors highlight the persistence of these particles and call for coordinated action to reduce plastic inputs to water bodies.

2021 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics: Emerging Threat in Global Plastic Pollution

This review examines nanoplastics as an emerging global threat within the broader plastic pollution crisis, discussing their sources, environmental distribution, and potential ecological and human health risks as a distinct concern from larger microplastic particles.

2024 Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences
Article Tier 2

Are We Underestimating Microplastic Contamination in Aquatic Environments?

This review argues that current microplastic monitoring methods likely underestimate the true extent of contamination in aquatic environments, especially for small particles and fibers. The authors call for standardized, more sensitive detection methods to better inform regulation and risk assessment.

2017 Environmental Management 277 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics are significantly different from microplastics in urban waters

This review critically examines the differences between microplastics and nanoplastics in urban water systems. Researchers found that nanoplastics exhibit distinct physicochemical features compared to microplastics, including Brownian motion and higher surface area, leading to significantly different environmental fates, pollutant interactions, and ecological impacts that warrant separate analytical and management approaches.

2023 Water Research X 86 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro (nano) plastics in wastewater: A critical review on toxicity risk assessment, behaviour, environmental impact and challenges

Researchers reviewed the sources, detection methods, toxicity, environmental fate, and wastewater treatment options for micro- and nanoplastics, finding that nanoplastics are especially persistent and toxic due to their large surface area and ability to carry co-pollutants, and identifying key research gaps in quantification, degradation mechanisms, and sensor development.

2021 Chemosphere 103 citations
Article Tier 2

Research progress of nanoplastics in freshwater

This review summarized the environmental fate, extraction methods, characterization techniques, and biological effects of nanoplastics in freshwater systems, noting that NPs' small size, high surface area, and cell-penetrating ability make them potentially more harmful than microplastics despite being less studied.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 99 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics in water

This paper examines the presence and behavior of nanoplastics, extremely small plastic particles, in water environments. Understanding how these particles move through and persist in water is important for assessing potential risks to aquatic ecosystems and human health.

2024 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Updated review on microplastics in water, their occurrence, detection, measurement, environmental pollution, and the need for regulatory standards

This review examines microplastic occurrence, detection methods, and measurement techniques in aquatic environments, highlighting the urgent need for explicit regulatory frameworks to address the growing threat of microplastic pollution in water systems.

2021 Environmental Pollution 130 citations
Article Tier 2

Emergence of nanoplastics in the aquatic environment and possible impacts on aquatic organisms

This review summarizes current knowledge on nanoplastics in aquatic environments, finding them present in seas, rivers, and nature reserves across multiple continents at measurable levels. These extremely small plastic particles accumulate in aquatic organisms and cause growth problems, reproductive issues, and immune dysfunction, raising concerns about human exposure through contaminated seafood and drinking water.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 203 citations
Article Tier 2

Critical gaps in nanoplastics research and their connection to risk assessment

This paper identifies critical knowledge gaps in nanoplastics research and explains why they matter for assessing health and environmental risks. Nanoplastics are harder to detect and measure than larger microplastics, meaning current pollution estimates likely undercount total plastic contamination. The authors call for better detection methods and standardized research approaches to understand the true scope of nanoplastic exposure.

2023 Frontiers in Toxicology 56 citations
Article Tier 2

A critical review on nanoplastics and its future perspectives in the marine environment

This review provides a comprehensive look at nanoplastics, plastic particles smaller than one micrometer, and their fate in marine environments. Researchers found that nanoplastics can originate from the breakdown of larger plastic debris and may carry harmful chemical additives and absorbed pollutants on their surfaces. The evidence indicates that due to their extremely small size, nanoplastics can cross biological barriers and accumulate in marine organisms, raising concerns about food chain contamination.

2023 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of micro- and nanoplastics on aquatic ecosystems: Current research trends and perspectives

This review covers 83 studies on the distribution and toxic effects of micro- and nanoplastics in both marine and freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Researchers found that these tiny particles affected the growth, development, behavior, reproduction, and survival of a wide range of aquatic organisms. The paper identifies key research gaps and suggests future directions for understanding the full ecological impact of plastic pollution in aquatic environments.

2017 Marine Pollution Bulletin 630 citations