TY - JOUR
T1 - Emerging investigator series
T2 - microplastic-based leachate formation under UV irradiation: the extent, characteristics, and mechanisms
AU - Collins, Ashton
AU - Ateia, Mohamed
AU - Bhagat, Kartik
AU - Ohno, Tsutomu
AU - Perreault, François
AU - Apul, Onur
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by National Science Foundation through ECS 2003859 and ECS 2004160 awards. The manuscript has not been subjected to the peer and policy review of the agency and does not necessarily reflect their views.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
PY - 2022/12/27
Y1 - 2022/12/27
N2 - Microplastics in the aquatic system are among the many inevitable consequences of plastic pollution, which has cascading environmental and public health impacts. Our study aimed at analyzing surface interactions and leachate production of six microplastics under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Leachate production was analyzed for the dissolved organic content (DOC), UV254, and fluorescence through excitation emission (EEM) to determine the kinetics and mechanisms involved in the release of organic matter by UV irradiation. The results suggested there was a clear trend of organic matter being released from the surface of the six microplastics caused by UV irradiation based on DOC, UV254 absorbance, and EEM intensity increasing with time. Polystyrene had the greatest and fastest increase in DOC concentrations, followed by the resin coated polystyrene. Experiments conducted at different temperatures indicated the endothermic nature of these leaching mechanisms. The differences in leachate formation for different polymers were attributed to their chemical makeup and their potency to interact with UV. The aged microplastic samples were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), to determine the surface changes with respect to leachate formation. Results indicated that all microplastics had increasing carbonyl indices when aged by UV with polystyrene being the greatest. These findings affirm that the leachate formation is an interfacial interaction and could be a significant source of organic compound influx to natural waters due to the extremely abundant occurrence of microplastics and their large surface areas.
AB - Microplastics in the aquatic system are among the many inevitable consequences of plastic pollution, which has cascading environmental and public health impacts. Our study aimed at analyzing surface interactions and leachate production of six microplastics under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Leachate production was analyzed for the dissolved organic content (DOC), UV254, and fluorescence through excitation emission (EEM) to determine the kinetics and mechanisms involved in the release of organic matter by UV irradiation. The results suggested there was a clear trend of organic matter being released from the surface of the six microplastics caused by UV irradiation based on DOC, UV254 absorbance, and EEM intensity increasing with time. Polystyrene had the greatest and fastest increase in DOC concentrations, followed by the resin coated polystyrene. Experiments conducted at different temperatures indicated the endothermic nature of these leaching mechanisms. The differences in leachate formation for different polymers were attributed to their chemical makeup and their potency to interact with UV. The aged microplastic samples were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), to determine the surface changes with respect to leachate formation. Results indicated that all microplastics had increasing carbonyl indices when aged by UV with polystyrene being the greatest. These findings affirm that the leachate formation is an interfacial interaction and could be a significant source of organic compound influx to natural waters due to the extremely abundant occurrence of microplastics and their large surface areas.
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U2 - 10.1039/d2ew00423b
DO - 10.1039/d2ew00423b
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85146041635
SN - 2053-1400
VL - 9
SP - 363
EP - 374
JO - Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology
JF - Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology
IS - 2
ER -