Recent studies have shown that plastic particles can
sorb antibiotics,
and these sorption properties have been examined in various studies;
however, the possible mechanism responsible for the interactions requires
a deeper investigation in terms of further interaction with living
systems. Moreover, the usage of disposable surgical masks and plastic
bottles has increased the plastic pollution risk for living systems
like humans. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the sorption characteristics
between antibiotics (amoxicillin and spiramycin) and plastic particles
from surgical masks and plastic bottles through batch sorption experiments.
In the study, their surface interactions were characterized using
multispectroscopic approaches including FTIR, Raman spectrometry,
and SEM-EDX, and various surface indicators (e.g., surface oxidation,
deformation, and biological potential) were examined. The sorption
results showed that adsorption kinetics and the isotherm of amoxicillin
and spiramycin on micro(nano)plastics from surgical masks and plastic
bottles closely fit the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmiur
isotherm. These results indicated that the evidence for the antibiotic
interaction with particles was changes in the surface functional group
intensities and up-shifting, and this correlated with the sorption
of antibiotics on micro(nano)-sized plastics. The C/N ratio of the
plastic particles before and after antibiotic treatment was used as
an indicator for the surface biological interaction, and the results
showed that C/N ratios of surgical mask particles increased with both
types of antibiotic sorption. However, the C/N of the particles from
plastic bottles showed antibiotic type-dependence. The surface deformation
indicators (e.g., O/C, CO, CC, and O–H indices)
showed that the O/C ratios of micro(nano)plastics from surgical masks
were higher with the amoxicillin and spiramycin sorption, and the
CO indices were positively linked with the amoxicillin sorption
stages, whereas the CC and O–H had a negative correlation
with the amoxicillin sorption stages. Moreover, amoxicillin sorption
influenced the O/C ratio and indices of O–H and CC
of micro(nano)plastics from plastic bottles in a limited manner. The
CO groups of the micro(nano)plastics from plastic bottles
were positively influenced by the spiramycin sorption stages, whereas
it was negatively linked with amoxicillin sorption stages. Overall,
the findings from surface indicators indicated that the micro(nano)plastics
from surgical masks can be more influenced with antibiotic sorption
compared to plastic bottles.