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Combined Effects of Fe/Al Oxyhydroxide Coating and pH on Polystyrene Nanoplastic Transport in Saturated Sand Media

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Abstract

Nanoplastics (NPs) in the subsurface environment have received great attention recently. In this study, column experiments were conducted to investigate the individual effect of Fe and Al oxyhydroxide, and also the combined effects of the two oxyhydroxides and pH on the transport of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs) in water-saturated Fe/Al oxyhydroxide-coating sand. The results showed that compared with Fe oxyhydroxide, Al oxyhydroxide exhibited a more profound impact to retain PSNPs because of its higher pHPZC (point of zero charge; Fe: 7.2, Al: 9.9). More interestingly, for pH values (Fe: 4.5–7.0, Al: 4.5–9.7) lower than Fe/Al oxyhydroxide pHPZC, Fe/Al oxyhydroxide coating dramatically enhanced the retention of negatively charged PSNPs, attributing to the less negatively charged surface and thus reduced electrostatic repulsion. In contrast, for pH values (Fe: 9.7, Al: 11.0) higher than Fe/Al oxyhydroxide pHPZC, Fe/Al oxyhydroxide coating had negligible influence on PSNP retention, because the electrostatic repulsion dominated the transport process. These results clearly demonstrate that pH strongly mediates the transport of PSNPs in Fe/Al oxyhydroxide-coated sand, and emphasize the dominant role of electrostatic interaction in PSNP transport. Findings of this study provide new insight into understanding and predicting the fate and transport of NPs in natural medias with complex physicochemical properties.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018 YFC1800604), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42007114), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20200817).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Key Laboratory of Surficial Geochemisty, Ministry of Education, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hydrosciences Department, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Xiaoli Wu, Xiankui Zeng, Yuanyuan Sun & Jichun Wu

  2. School of Hydrology and Water Resources, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Xueyan Lyu

  3. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Bin Gao

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  1. Xiaoli Wu
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  2. Xiankui Zeng
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  5. Yuanyuan Sun
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  6. Jichun Wu
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Correspondence to Xueyan Lyu.

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Wu, X., Zeng, X., Lyu, X. et al. Combined Effects of Fe/Al Oxyhydroxide Coating and pH on Polystyrene Nanoplastic Transport in Saturated Sand Media. Water Air Soil Pollut 233, 2 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05469-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05469-6

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