Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Adsorption of antibiotics on microplastics

This study examined the adsorption of antibiotics onto different microplastic types, finding that sorption capacity depended on both the antibiotic's chemical properties and the plastic's surface characteristics, with implications for antibiotic transport in aquatic environments.

2018 Environmental Pollution 1314 citations
Article Tier 2

Behavior and mechanisms of ciprofloxacin adsorption on aged polylactic acid and polyethlene microplastics

Researchers investigated how aging affects the adsorption of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin on polylactic acid and polyethylene microplastics, finding that aged plastics showed significantly enhanced adsorption capacity due to physicochemical surface changes.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Sorption behavior and mechanism of hydrophilic organic chemicals to virgin and aged microplastics in freshwater and seawater

UV-accelerated aging of polystyrene and PVC microplastics increased surface oxidation and introduced microcracks, and aged MPs showed significantly increased adsorption of the hydrophilic antibiotic ciprofloxacin compared to virgin MPs. The findings demonstrate that even hydrophilic organic chemicals can accumulate on aged microplastics, expanding the range of compounds that microplastics may carry and deliver to organisms.

2018 Environmental Pollution 1012 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction between antibiotics and microplastics: Recent advances and perspective

This review examines how microplastics in water can absorb antibiotic pollutants onto their surface, especially as the plastics age and develop bacterial biofilms. This interaction is concerning for human health because microplastics carrying antibiotics could promote antibiotic-resistant bacteria in waterways, making infections harder to treat.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 168 citations
Article Tier 2

Tetracycline adsorption trajectories on aged polystyrene in a simulated aquatic environment: A mechanistic investigation

Researchers found that aging of polystyrene microplastics in simulated aquatic environments progressively altered their surface properties and enhanced tetracycline antibiotic adsorption over time, with pseudo-second-order kinetics best describing the process, highlighting how weathered microplastics may increase antibiotic transport in aquatic systems.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Quantitative assessment of interactions of hydrophilic organic contaminants with microplastics in natural water environment

Researchers quantified how microplastics interact with common antibiotic pollutants in natural water conditions, comparing virgin and environmentally aged polystyrene particles. They found that aged microplastics absorbed significantly more antibiotics than new ones due to increased surface area and chemical changes from weathering. The study suggests that as microplastics age in the environment, they become more effective at concentrating and transporting other harmful pollutants.

2022 Water Research 91 citations
Article Tier 2

Mechanisms of microplastics sorption of antibiotics and impacts on aquatic ecosystems for sustainable development goals

This review examines how microplastics serve as carriers for antibiotics in aquatic ecosystems through sorption mechanisms including hydrophobic interactions, electrostatic forces, and chemical bonding. The study found that environmental factors like pH, salinity, and organic matter affect how antibiotics bind to microplastics, while weathering processes can transform microplastics into nanoplastics that potentially increase pollutant mobility.

2025 Discover Environment 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption characteristics of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride on polystyrene microplastics in freshwater

Researchers studied how polystyrene microplastics adsorb the antibiotic ciprofloxacin in freshwater, comparing pristine and aged particles. They found that aging treatment, particularly Fenton oxidation over seven days, significantly enhanced the adsorption capacity of the microplastics for the antibiotic. The study suggests that as microplastics weather in the environment, they may become increasingly effective carriers of pharmaceutical contaminants in water systems.

2024 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Behavior and mechanisms of ciprofloxacin adsorption on aged Polylactic Acid and Polyethylene microplastics

This study examined how aged polylactic acid (PLA) and polyethylene (PE) microplastics absorb the antibiotic ciprofloxacin in water. Aging changes the surface chemistry of microplastics, affecting how they pick up and carry antibiotics — which could deliver higher doses of these drugs to organisms that ingest the particles.

2023 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Aging characteristics of degradable and non-biodegradable microplastics and their adsorption mechanism for sulfonamides

Researchers investigated how aging processes affect the ability of degradable and non-biodegradable microplastics to adsorb sulfonamide antibiotics in aquatic environments. The study found that aging increased the hydrophilicity and polarity of microplastics, boosting the adsorption capacity of polylactic acid by up to 3.18 times, suggesting that weathered microplastics may pose greater ecological risks as carriers of co-existing contaminants.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 53 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption behavior of levofloxacin hydrochloride on non‐degradable microplastics aging with H 2 O 2

This study explored how microplastics act as carriers for the antibiotic levofloxacin in water, finding that chemically aged plastics (simulating environmental weathering) adsorb significantly more of the drug than fresh plastics. All three plastics tested — PVC, polystyrene, and PET — showed increased drug-binding capacity after aging, primarily through pore-filling. This matters because microplastics in rivers and lakes don't just pose a physical hazard; they can pick up and concentrate pharmaceutical contaminants, potentially delivering them to aquatic organisms at higher doses.

2025 Water Environment Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption of Macrolide Antibiotics by Aged Microplastics of Different Sizes: Mechanisms and Effects

Researchers investigated how aging affects the ability of polystyrene microplastics to adsorb macrolide antibiotics in water, testing two particle sizes under simulated natural aging conditions. They found that aging increased surface roughness and oxygen-containing functional groups on the microplastics, significantly enhancing their ability to adsorb azithromycin, clarithromycin, and erythromycin. The findings suggest that weathered microplastics in the environment may carry higher loads of antibiotic contaminants than pristine particles.

2025 Nanomaterials 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigation of antibiotic clarithromycin adsorption potential on microplastics

Researchers investigated the adsorption potential of the antibiotic clarithromycin onto various microplastic types under controlled laboratory conditions, examining how surface properties and environmental factors influence pharmaceutical-microplastic interactions. The study found that microplastics can adsorb clarithromycin, raising concern about microplastics acting as vectors for antibiotic transport and spread in aquatic environments.

2024 Global NEST Journal
Article Tier 2

Adsorption-desorption behaviors of ciprofloxacin onto aged polystyrene fragments in aquatic environments

Researchers investigated how UV and chemical aging of polystyrene microplastic fragments affects their adsorption and desorption of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin in aquatic environments, finding that aging increased surface area and altered surface chemistry, thereby enhancing adsorption capacity. The study identified key physicochemical properties controlling antibiotic-microplastic interactions and their potential to affect antibiotic bioavailability in contaminated waters.

2023 Chemosphere 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics influence the fate of antibiotics in freshwater environments: Biofilm formation and its effect on adsorption behavior

Researchers found that biofilm formation on microplastics in freshwater environments enhanced antibiotic adsorption by 24-51%, with potential pathogens detected in all biofilm communities across PVC, PA, and HDPE plastics.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 136 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption characteristics of antibiotics on microplastics: The effect of surface contamination with an anionic surfactant

Researchers found that the common anionic surfactant SDBS coating polystyrene and polyethylene microplastics significantly altered their adsorption of the antibiotics oxytetracycline and norfloxacin. SDBS changed the surface charge and hydrophobicity of MPs in ways that increased antibiotic binding, suggesting surfactant-contaminated MPs pose a greater risk as antibiotic vectors in aquatic environments.

2022 Chemosphere 48 citations
Article Tier 2

The occurrence of microplastic in specific organs in commercially caught fishes from coast and estuary area of east China

Researchers studied how polyethylene microplastics interact with the antibiotic ciprofloxacin in aquatic environments and found that the plastic particles can absorb and concentrate the drug on their surface. The adsorption capacity increased with weathering of the plastic, suggesting that aged microplastics in the environment are more effective carriers of pharmaceutical pollutants. The findings raise concerns that microplastics could transport antibiotics through water systems, potentially contributing to antimicrobial resistance.

2018 Journal of Hazardous Materials 453 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of microplastics and their interaction with antibiotics in wastewater

Researchers characterized microplastics in wastewater and investigated their interactions with antibiotics, examining how microplastic surfaces adsorb antibiotic compounds and the implications for antibiotic transport and dissemination in wastewater treatment systems.

2025 e_Buah
Article Tier 2

New insights into adsorption mechanism of pristine and weathered polyamide microplastics towards hydrophilic organic compounds

Adsorption of four hydrophilic organic compounds including antibiotics sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin onto pristine and weathered polyamide microplastics was studied, finding that weathering introduced oxygen-containing surface groups that significantly altered adsorption capacity and mechanisms. The results improve predictions of how microplastics transport co-occurring pollutants in aquatic environments.

2022 Environmental Pollution 40 citations
Article Tier 2

Sorption of selected pharmaceutical compounds on polyethylene microplastics: Roles of pH, aging, and competitive sorption

Researchers found that polyethylene microplastics adsorb pharmaceutical compounds including an antibiotic, a beta-blocker, and an antidepressant, with sorption capacity influenced by pH, aging of the plastic, and competition between compounds — raising concern about microplastics as carriers of pharmaceuticals in aquatic environments.

2022 Chemosphere 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Investigation of the adsorption–desorption behavior of antibiotics by polybutylene succinate and polypropylene aged in different water conditions

Researchers investigated how dissolved organic matter and salinity affect the aging of polybutylene succinate (PBS) and polypropylene (PP) microplastics and their subsequent adsorption-desorption of the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole, finding that dissolved organic matter promoted aging more strongly than salinity, especially for the biodegradable PBS, and that aging altered antibiotic binding behavior.

2022 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption properties and influencing factors of antibiotics on microplastics under simulated gastric fluid environment

Researchers investigated how microplastics adsorb antibiotics under simulated human stomach conditions and found that aged microplastics had significantly greater adsorption capacity than pristine ones. Among the antibiotics tested, amoxicillin was most readily adsorbed by all three microplastic types studied, and adsorption capacity increased with smaller particle sizes and lower ionic strength.

2025 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Mechanistic insight into different adsorption of norfloxacin on microplastics in simulated natural water and real surface water

This study compared the adsorption of norfloxacin antibiotic onto microplastics in simulated natural water versus real surface water, finding that natural organic matter and competing ions in real water significantly reduced antibiotic uptake by microplastics.

2021 Environmental Pollution 81 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecotoxicological effects of antibiotic adsorption behavior of microplastics and its management measures

This review summarizes research on how microplastics adsorb antibiotics from the environment, creating combined pollutant complexes with potentially greater ecological harm. Researchers found that factors like plastic type, aging, and environmental conditions strongly influence how much antibiotic a microplastic particle can carry. The study highlights that these microplastic-antibiotic combinations may contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 21 citations