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Promoted dissipation and detoxification of atrazine by graphene oxide coexisting in water

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Abstract

The herbicide atrazine (ATZ) has a detrimental effect on the health of aquatic ecosystems and has become a global concern in recent years. But the understanding of its persistence and potential toxicity under combined pollution, especially in the coexistence of other emerging pollutants, remains limited. In this work, the dissipation and transformation of ATZ in combination with graphene oxide (GO) in water were investigated. Results showed that dissipation rates of ATZ dramatically increased by 15–95% with half-lives shortened by 15–40% depending on initial concentrations of ATZ, and the products were mainly toxic chloro-dealkylated intermediates (deethylatrazine (DEA) and deisopropylatrazine (DIA)), but their contents were significantly lower under the coexistence of GO compared to ATZ alone. In the presence of GO, the nontoxic dechlorinated metabolite hydroxyatrazine (HYA) was detected earlier than 2–9 days, and ATZ transformation into HYA was increased by 6–18% during 21-day incubation periods. This study indicated that the coexistence of GO enhanced the dissipation and detoxification of ATZ. From a remediation standpoint, GO-induced hydrolytic dechlorination of ATZ can reduce its ecological toxicity. But the environmental risks of ATZ for aquatic ecosystem under the coexistence of GO should still be given the necessary prominence due to the potential hazard of ATZ adsorbed on GO and the predominant degradation products (DEA and DIA).

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071502) and the Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of CAS (KFJ-STS-QYZD-2021–14-001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Grassland, Flowers and Ecology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, 100097, People’s Republic of China

    Qinghai Wang, Lei Peng, Zixin Zhou & Cui Li

  2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Peng, Zixin Zhou & Chuansheng Chen

  3. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, People’s Republic of China

    Yu Wang

  4. Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoe Que

Authors
  1. Qinghai Wang
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  2. Lei Peng
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  3. Zixin Zhou
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  4. Cui Li
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  5. Chuansheng Chen
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  6. Yu Wang
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  7. Xiaoe Que
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Contributions

Qinghai Wang and Xiaoe Que conceptualization; Chuansheng Chen and Yu Wang methodology; Lei Peng, Zixin Zhou, and Cui Li material preparation and data collection; Qinghai Wang and Lei Peng data analysis and writing original draft preparation; Qinghai Wang supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiaoe Que.

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Wang, Q., Peng, L., Zhou, Z. et al. Promoted dissipation and detoxification of atrazine by graphene oxide coexisting in water. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 81164–81173 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27276-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27276-8

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