Nanoplastics are potentially more dangerous than microplastics

Abstract

Nanoplastics are probably much more dangerous for living organisms than microplastics because they are more abundant and reactive. They can potentially reach more remote locations and penetrate in living cells. Here we compare nanoplastics with microplastics and engineered nanoparticles, with focus on formation, size, reactivity, mobility, biofilms, and interactions with microbes, pollutants and natural organic matter.

New Method of Fabricating Carbon Materials via Uptake of Nanoplastics into Eichhornia crassipes for Enhancing Supercapacitance

“…33 The native sulfur content in the Eichhornia crassipes facilitates in situ self-doping of sulfur, and the biochar prepared in this way can enhance the electron-transfer ability and long-term durability. 34 From Figure 3a, the EC-PS 25 CV curve shows rectangle-like shapes that are wide at low potentials and narrow at high potentials, suggesting typical electric double-layer capacitor behavior. We can find that the shape of CV curves keeps well with the increase of the scanning rate, indicating that it has good specific capacitance retention (Figure S10 in the Supporting Information).…”

“…Among them, fine plastic particles or fragments with particle size (or one-dimensional length) less than 5 mm were defined as “microplastics” for the first time in 2004, while plastic particles with particle sizes ranging from 1 to 1000 nm were called nanoplastics. − Micro–nanoplastics are widely distributed in environmental media, difficult to degrade naturally, and easy to bioaccumulate, which have attracted researchers’ attention in recent years. Among them, the high specific surface area and high surface reactivity of nanoplastics make them have different absorption rates, biological distribution, and high dynamics, which are more harmful to the environment and human health than microplastics. − In recent years, a large number of studies have pointed out that micro–nanoplastics have been found in plant internal tissues. , Micro–nanoplastics can enter plants through the adhesion, winding, and wrapping of plant roots, and they transport plastic particles to the above-ground parts under the action of transpiration tension and root pressure. Recovering this new type of pollutant through plants absorbing micro–nanoplastics has the advantages of low economic cost, strong practicability, and no pollution.…”

Microplastic sources, formation, toxicity and remediation: a review

“…Nanoplastics are of particular concern as they pose a greater risk to living organisms than microplastics due to their higher abundance and reactivity. Their small size allows them to easily penetrate living cells and reach remote locations, exacerbating their potential harm (Sharma et al 2022 ).…”

Eco-toxicity of nano-plastics and its implication on human metabolism: Current and future perspective

“…In furtherance with this, it is important to study the characteristic factors responsible for the migration of NPs in various ecosystems and its adverse effects. These nanoplastics tend to become more hazardous and lethal upon interaction with the living system pertaining to their size, higher surface area to volume ratio which makes them more reactive (Sharma et al, 2022). Furthermore, these Nanoplastics also plays a role of trojan horse, becoming a vector for many other potentially hazardous xenobiotics which result in upscaling of the lethal impact of nanoplastic pollution towards environment and other living system (Katsumiti et al, 2021).…”