Citation: Yucheng Zhang, Xiaotong Su, Nora F.Y. Tam, Xiaolan Lao, Meiling Zhong, Qihang Wu, Huifang Lei, Zihui Chen, Zhang Li, Jie Fu. An insight into aggregation kinetics of polystyrene nanoplastics interaction with metal cations[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2022, 33(12): 5213-5217. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2022.01.056 shu

An insight into aggregation kinetics of polystyrene nanoplastics interaction with metal cations

Yucheng Zhang ^a ,
Xiaotong Su ^a ,
Nora F.Y. Tam ^{b, c} ,
Xiaolan Lao ^a ,
Meiling Zhong ^a ,
Qihang Wu ^{a, *,} ,
Huifang Lei ^a ,
Zihui Chen ^a ,
Zhang Li ^d ,
Jie Fu ^{d, *,}

a.
Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl Stream Delta, Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
b.
State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution and Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
c.
School of Science and Technology, Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
d.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

wuqihang@gzhu.edu.cn

jiefu@hust.edu.cn

Received Date: 15 November 2021
Revised Date: 19 December 2021
Accepted Date: 21 January 2022
Available Online: 24 January 2022

Figures(5)

Once inevitably released into the aquatic environment, polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs) will present complicated environmental behaviors, of which the aggregation is a key process determining their environmental fate and impact. In this study, the aggregation kinetics of different sizes (30 nm and 100 nm) of PS-NPs with metal cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Pb²⁺) at different solution pH (3, 6 and 8) were investigated. The results showed that the aggregation of PS-NPs increased with cation concentration. Taking Pb²⁺ as an example, the adsorption behavior of cations onto PS-NPs was determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, which demonstrated Pb²⁺ could be adhered onto the surface of PS-NPs with the effect of charge neutralization. The critical coagulation concentrations (CCC) of smaller PS-NPs were higher than that of larger PS-NPs for monovalent cations, whereas a different pattern is observed for divalent cations. It was suggested that there were other factors that DLVO theory does not consider affect the stability of NPs with different particle sizes. In addition, it should be noted that PS-NPs had the capacity of adsorbing large amounts of heavy metal cations and carried them transport to a long distance, and the corresponding ecological risks need to further elucidate.
- Polystyrene nanoplastics,
- Lead cation,
- Aggregation kinetics,
- Critical coagulation concentration,
- Size effect
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