Using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) technique for studying biofilm formation on LDPE and PET surfaces: laboratory and field experiments

Tziourrou, Pavlos; Vakros, John; Karapanagioti, Hrissi K.

doi:10.1007/s11356-020-07729-0

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The presence of polar functional groups may contribute to the formation of H-bonding and may favor the sorption of antibiotics. The same is true on the effect of biofilm on the MP surface (Tziourrou et al 2020a) that is the formation of functional groups.…”

Section: Historical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 85%

Sorption of Pollutants on Microplastics

Karapanagioti

Mendoza

2021

Handbook of Microplastics in the Environment

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This chapter presents the different aspects involved in the study of pollutant sorption on microplastics (MPs). Introductory descriptions of the sorption processes are presented. The study of sorption capacity at equilibrium and kinetics is important to better understand the process. Early studies recognized the presence of chemicals on the MPs, and there are several of them performed throughout the world. These studies demonstrated that the presence of many chemicals found on MPs is due to sorption while in contact with polluted seawater. Later studies performed laboratory experiments and field studies to better understand sorption processes. In the case of polyethylene (PE), which is the major polymer of MPs found at sea, hydrophobic linear sorption is the main mechanism. However, polar

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Section: Historical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 85%

Sorption of Pollutants on Microplastics

Karapanagioti

Mendoza

2021

Handbook of Microplastics in the Environment

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“…According to Alupoaei and Garcia-Rubio ( 2005 ), UV-vis spectra of microorganisms contain information on their properties (e.g., chemical composition, internal structure, number, size, and shape). Correlating natural and artificial marine environments, the research supported that biofilm patterns were related to DRS peaks; more specifically, the fluctuation of the DR spectra depended on the polymer type and the time period of biofilm formation on plastic surfaces (Tziourrou et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…S1 ) (Sfaelou et al 2016 ). Each reactor was operated in subsequent cycles of 5 days [more specifically a 4-day operation of bioreactors plus one day of refreshing the liquids based on Tziourrou et al ( 2020 ) and the energy source (C 6 H 12 O 6 ) (Imai and Gloyna 1990 ; Sgountzos et al 2006 )]; a similar procedure was followed by Sfaelou et al ( 2015a , b , 2016 ) and Papadimitriou et al ( 2010 , 2018 )]. There was constant air flow via air pumps in each reactor (dissolved oxygen is consumed by the microorganisms as an electron acceptor during aerobic growth).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A film of microbial diversity called biofilm (Donlan 2002 ), or plastishere in the case of plastic surface (Rummel et al 2017 ; Zettler et al 2013 ) is potentially developed on any surface in an aqueous environment. In a recent study by Tziourrou et al ( 2020 ), using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) technique, they observed that biofilm in the marine environment does not develop randomly but in a specific way, depending on the type of plastic material. The steps followed by the creation and development of a biofilm on a surface are generally as follows: (a) reversible attachment of bacteria, (b) irreversible attachment of a surface by microorganisms, (c) biofilm maturation, and (d) biofilm dispersion (Khatoon et al 2018 ; Donlan 2002 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The techniques used to study biofilms can vary from biological, physicochemical (Azeredo et al 2017 ), microscopy techniques (Pantanella et al 2013 ) to mathematical modeling (Wilson et al 2017 ). There are very few publications which study biofilm on plastics directly after sampling from the field or during a laboratory experiment, without any pretreatment or alteration of the sample (e.g., Tziourrou et al 2020 ; Sfaelou et al 2015a ); in other words, the study of biofilm as a material that alters polymer surfaces at different periods (e.g., color change of biofilm) needs to be further studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and infrared (IR) measurements for studying biofilm formation on common plastic litter polymer (LDPE and PET) surfaces in three different laboratory aquatic environments

Tziourrou¹,

Vakros²,

Karapanagioti³

2023

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Different species of microorganisms colonize the plastic surfaces and form biofilms depending on the aquatic environment. In the current investigation, characteristics of the plastic surface after exposure to three different aquatic environments based on visualization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and spectroscopic (diffuse reflectance (DR) and infrared (IR)) techniques were examined in laboratory bioreactors with time. For both materials, there were no differences observed in the ultraviolet (UV) region among the reactors and several peaks were observed with fluctuating intensities and without any trends. For light density polyethylene (LDPE), peaks indicating the presence of biofilm could be observed in the visible region for activated sludge bioreactor, and for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), freshwater algae biofilm was also visible. PET in freshwater bioreactor is the most densely populated sample both under the optical microscope and SEM. Based on the DR spectra, different visible peaks for LDPE and PET were observed but, in both cases, the visible region peaks (~ 450 and 670 nm) correspond to the peaks found in the water samples of the bioreactors. The difference on these surfaces could not be identified with IR but the fluctuations observed in the UV wavelength region were also detectable using indices obtained from the IR spectra such as keto, ester, and vinyl. For instance, the virgin PET sample shows higher values in all the indices than the virgin LDPE sample [(virgin LDPE: ester Index (I) = 0.051, keto I = 0.039, vinyl I = 0.067), (virgin PET: ester I = 3.5, keto I = 19, vinyl I = 0.18)]. This suggests that virgin PET surface is hydrophilic as expected. At the same time, for all the LDPE samples, all the indices demonstrated higher values (especially for R2) than the virgin LDPE. On the other hand, ester and keto indices for PET samples demonstrated lower values than virgin PET. In addition, DRS technique was able to identify the formation of the biofilm both on wet and dry samples. Both DRS and IR can describe changes in the hydrophobicity during the initial formation of biofilm but DRS can better describe the fluctuations of biofilm in the visible spectra region.

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Sorption of Pollutants on Microplastics

Karapanagioti

Rios-Mendoza

2022

Handbook of Microplastics in the Environment

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Using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) technique for studying biofilm formation on LDPE and PET surfaces: laboratory and field experiments

Cited by 10 publications

References 26 publications

Sorption of Pollutants on Microplastics

Sorption of Pollutants on Microplastics

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and infrared (IR) measurements for studying biofilm formation on common plastic litter polymer (LDPE and PET) surfaces in three different laboratory aquatic environments

Sorption of Pollutants on Microplastics

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