Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are currently incorporated into various consumer products, and numerous new applications and products containing CNTs are expected in the future. The potential for negative effects caused by CNT release into the environment is a prominent concern and numerous research projects have investigated possible environmental release pathways, fate, and toxicity. However, this expanding body of literature has not yet been systematically reviewed. Our objective is to critically review this literature to identify emerging trends as well as persistent knowledge gaps on these topics. Specifically, we examine the release of CNTs from polymeric products, removal in wastewater treatment systems, transport through surface and subsurface media, aggregation behaviors, interactions with soil and sediment particles, potential transformations and degradation, and their potential ecotoxicity in soil, sediment, and aquatic ecosystems. One major limitation in the current literature is quantifying CNT masses in relevant media (polymers, tissues, soils, and sediments). Important new directions include developing mechanistic models for CNT release from composites and understanding CNT transport in more complex and environmentally realistic systems such as heteroaggregation with natural colloids and transport of nanoparticles in a range of soils.

Graphene layers are potential candidates in a large number of applications. However, little is known about their ecotoxicological risks largely as a result of a lack of quantification techniques in complex environmental matrices. In this study, graphene was synthesized by means of graphitization and exfoliation of sandwich-like FePO4/dodecylamine hybrid nanosheets, and (14)C was incorporated in the synthesis. (14)C-labeled graphene was spiked to artificial freshwater and the uptake and depuration of graphene by Daphnia magna were assessed. After exposure for 24 h to a 250 μg/L solution of graphene, the graphene concentration in the organism was nearly 1% of the organism dry mass. These organisms excreted the graphene to clean artificial freshwater and achieved roughly constant body burdens after 24 h depuration periods regardless of the initial graphene exposure concentration. Addition of algae and humic acid to water during the depuration period resulted in release of a significant fraction (>90%) of the accumulated graphene, but some still remained in the organism. Accumulated graphene in adult Daphnia was likely transferred to the neonates. The uptake and elimination results provided here support the environmental risk assessment of graphene and the graphene quantification method is a powerful tool for additional studies.

Carbon nanotubes comprise a class of nanomaterials having demonstrated promise for broad ranges of potential applications. Because of difficulties associated with quantifying these materials in environmental media, however, their behaviors therein and associated potential risks are yet largely unknown. To address this problem, a modified chemical vapor deposition process employing carbon-14 labeled methane was used to synthesize single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The labeled nanotubes and a representative polynuclear hydrocarbon, pyrene, were then individually spiked to identical soil samples. The uptake and depuration behaviors of the spiked materials by the earthworm Eisenia foetida, a potential entry point to terrestrial food chains, were then assessed. Bioaccumulation factors determined for the nanotubes were almost 2 orders of magnitude smaller than those measured for pyrene, indicating that purified carbon nanotubes, unlike pyrene, are neither readily absorbed into organism tissues nor manifest equilibrium partitioning thereto.

Engineered multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are the subject of intense research and are expected to gain widespread usage in a broad variety of commercial products. However, concerns have been raised regarding potential environmental and human health risks. The mobility of MWCNTs in porous media is examined in this study using one-dimensional flow-through column experiments under conditions representative of subsurface and drinking water treatment systems. Results demonstrate that pore water velocity strongly influenced MWCNT transport, with high MWCNT mobility at pore water velocities greater than 4.0 m/d. A numerical simulator, which incorporated a newly developed theoretical collector efficiency relationship for MWCNTs in spherical porous media, was developed to model observed column results. The model, which incorporated traditional colloid filtration theory in conjunction with a site-blocking term, yielded good agreement with observed results in quartz sand-packed column experiments. Experiments were also conducted in glass bead-packed columns with the same mean grain size as the quartz sand-packed columns. MWCNTs were more mobile in the glass bead-packed columns.