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Influence of phosphate on deposition and detachment of TiO2 nanoparticles in soil

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Abstract

The widespread use of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) makes inevitable their release into the soil. Phosphate is also widespread within soil, and is likely copresent with TiO2 NPs. However, the influence of phosphate on deposition/release— and thereby on transport— of TiO2 NPs in soil is yet to be elucidated. In this study we conducted saturated column experiments to systematically examine the transport of TiO2 NPs in soil amended with phosphate at different ionic strengths (ISs) (1, 10, 100 mmol/L NaCl) and pHs (4 and 9). Results show that the deposition of TiO2 NPs decreased with decreasing IS, increasing pH, and when soil absorbed phosphate. These observations are qualitatively in agreement with Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) interaction energy calculations, because the repulsive energy barrier is larger and secondary minimum depth is smaller at a lower IS, higher pH, and in the presence of phosphate. Accordingly, both primary- and secondary-minimum deposition were inhibited. Interestingly, although the deposition was less at higher pH and in the presence of phosphate, the subsequent spontaneous detachment and detachment by reduction of solution IS in these cases were greater. In addition, the presence of phosphate in the solution can cause a small quantity of attached TiO2 NPs to detach, even without perturbations of physical and chemical conditions. Our study was the first to investigate the influence of phosphate on detachment of TiO2 NPs and the results have important implication for accurate prediction of fate and transport of TiO2 NPs in subsurface environments.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41671222 and 41271009) and National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFD0800301).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil and Water Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Zhan Wang, Chongyang Shen & Baoguo Li

  2. College of Land and Environment, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, China

    Zhan Wang & Yulong Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Degraded and Unused Land Consolidation Engineering, Ministry of Land and Resources, Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction Group Co., Ltd., Xi′an, 710075, China

    Yichun Du

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  1. Zhan Wang
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  2. Chongyang Shen
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  3. Yichun Du
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  4. Yulong Zhang
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  5. Baoguo Li
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Correspondence to Baoguo Li.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• We examined influence of phosphate on transport of TiO2 NPs in soil.

• Deposition was reduced at higher pH and by adsorption of phosphate in soil.

• Release was more for NPs initially deposited at higher pH.

• Release was more for NPs initially deposited in the presence of phosphate.

• Surface roughness and charge heterogeneity play a role in the deposition/release.

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Wang, Z., Shen, C., Du, Y. et al. Influence of phosphate on deposition and detachment of TiO2 nanoparticles in soil. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 13, 79 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1163-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1163-y

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