Effects of Microplastics on the Transport of Soil Dissolved Organic Matter in the Loess Plateau of China

Guo, Ziqi; Li, Peng; Yang, Xiaomei; Wang, Zhanhui; Wu, Yang; Li, Guanwen; Liu, Guobin; Ritsema, Coen J.; Geissen, Violette; Xue, Sha

doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c04023

Cited by 18 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 61 publications

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“…It has been shown that the complex structure and functional groups of DOM can interact with organic pollutants, influencing their environmental fate through various forms of adsorption, binding, and photosensitization. , Similarly, MPs, as pervasive organic contaminants, inevitably interact with DOM. Although previous studies mainly focused on how DOM responds and changes under the influence of MPs, , there is growing interest in the potential impact of DOM on MPs. For instance, studies have reported that adding DOM accelerates the photoaging of polystyrene (PS) powder, and released DOM from PS can affect the photodegradation route of coexisting polypropylene (PP) and thus promote its photoaging. , Nevertheless, these studies did not evaluate the effect of the inherent properties of DOM, and it remains unclear which DOM fractions play a crucial role in influencing the environmental fate of MPs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Weights of Dissolved Organic Matter Significantly Affect Photoaging of Microplastics

Pan,

Zhang,

Qiu

et al. 2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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The fate of ubiquitous microplastics (MPs) is largely influenced by dissolved organic matter (DOM) in aquatic environments, which has garnered significant attention. The reactivity of DOM is reported to be greatly regulated by molecular weights (MWs), yet little is known about the effects of different MW DOM on MP aging. Here, the aging behavior of polystyrene MPs (PSMPs) in the presence of different MW fulvic acids (FAs) and humic acids (HAs) was systematically investigated. Under ultraviolet (UV) illumination, O/C of PSMPs aged for 96 h surged from 0.008 to 0.146 in the lower MW FA (FA <1kDa ) treatment, suggesting significant PSMP aging. However, FA exhibited a stronger effect on facilitating PSMP photoaging than HA, which can be attributed to the fact that FA <1kDa contains more quinone and phenolic moieties, demonstrating a higher redox capacity. Meanwhile, compared to other fractions, FA <1kDa was more actively involved in the increase of different reactive species yields by 50−290%, including •OH, which plays a key role in PSMP photoaging, and contributed to a 25% increase in electron-donating capacity (EDC). This study lays a theoretical foundation for a better understanding of the environmental fate of MPs.

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