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\({\mathrm{TiO}}_{2}\) nanoparticles in aquatic environments: impact on heavy metals distribution in sediments and overlying water

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Abstract

The extensive application of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) highlights the importance of investigating their influence on aquatic systems. In this work, the effect of TiO2 NPs on heavy metals speciation was studied on a lab scale. For this goal, a series of aquaria containing water, sediment, and TiO2 NPs with various concentrations were set up. The study results revealed that TiO2 NPs caused (copper) Cu, (mercury) Hg, (titanium) Ti, and (zinc) Zn to be adsorbed by sediments in the forms of exchangeable and Fe–Mn species. According to measurements, 30 µg/L of TiO2 NPs made Cu, Hg, Ti and Zn concentration in the water column decreased from 33, 1.14, 20, and 32 to 4, 0.58, 3, and 22.3 µg/L, respectively. Manganese (Mn) was also adsorbed by sediment, and in all experiments, its concentration in the water column reduced from 44 to about 20 µg/L. Due to the photocatalytic capacity of TiO2 NPs, arsenic (As) concentration in the water column increased from 0 to 8.7 µg/L with the introduction of 30 µg/L of TiO2 NPs. The sequential extraction results showed that in all experiments, concentrations of lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co) remained constant in different chemical species of sediment, which meant conservative behavior of them in presence of TiO2 NPs. In addition, a remarkable change was observed in water quality parameters such as ORP, TDS, TOC, BOD, \({\mathrm{NO}}_{3},\) and \({\mathrm{PO}}_{4}\) after the introduction of TiO2 NPs to aquaria. The reason behind these changes could be related to the decomposition of sediment organic content by TiO2 NPs.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank Department of Inorganic Chemistry at Malaga University and also Erasmus committee, for providing all essential facilities for conduction the related investigations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Marefat & Abdolreza Karbassi

  2. Research Department of Nano-technology and Advanced Materials, Tehran, Iran

    Behzad Aghabarari

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  1. Ali Marefat
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  2. Abdolreza Karbassi
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  3. Behzad Aghabarari
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Correspondence to Ali Marefat.

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Marefat, A., Karbassi, A. & Aghabarari, B. \({\mathrm{TiO}}_{2}\) nanoparticles in aquatic environments: impact on heavy metals distribution in sediments and overlying water. Acta Geochim 41, 968–981 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-022-00555-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-022-00555-w

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