J 2023

Untangling the role of biotic and abiotic ageing of various environmental plastics toward the sorption of metals

BINDA, Gilberto, Margarida COSTA, Luka SUPRAHA, Davide SPANU, Christian VOGELSANG et. al.

Základní údaje

Originální název

Untangling the role of biotic and abiotic ageing of various environmental plastics toward the sorption of metals

Autoři

BINDA, Gilberto, Margarida COSTA, Luka SUPRAHA, Davide SPANU, Christian VOGELSANG, Eva LEU a Luca NIZZETTO (380 Itálie, garant, domácí)

Vydání

Science of the Total Environment, AMSTERDAM, Elsevier, 2023, 0048-9697

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Článek v odborném periodiku

Obor

10511 Environmental sciences

Stát vydavatele

Nizozemské království

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

Impakt faktor

Impact factor: 9.800 v roce 2022

Kód RIV

RIV/00216224:14310/23:00131648

Organizační jednotka

Přírodovědecká fakulta

UT WoS

001039955900001

Klíčová slova anglicky

Microplastic; Trace elements; UV ageing; Biofilm

Štítky

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno
Změněno: 11. 9. 2023 10:59, Mgr. Michaela Hylsová, Ph.D.

Anotace

V originále

Plastic particles can impact the environmental fate and bioavailability of essential inorganic micronutrients and nonessential (toxic) metals. The sorption of metals to environmental plastic has been demonstrated to be facilitated by plastic ageing, a phenomenon encompassing an array of physical, chemical, and biological processes. This study deploys a factorial experiment to untangle the role of different ageing processes in determining the sorption of metals. Plastics made of three different polymer types were aged both through abiotic (ultraviolet irradiation, UV) and biotic (through the incubation with a multispecies algal inoculum forming a biofilm) processes under controlled laboratory conditions. Pristine and aged plastic samples were characterized for their physiochemical properties through Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and water contact angle measurements. Their sorption affinity toward aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu) in aqueous solutions was then assessed as a response variable. All ageing processes (alone or combined) influenced plastic surface properties resulting in reduced hydrophobicity, changes in surface functional groups (i.e., increase of oxygen containing functional groups after UV ageing and the appearance of marked bands as amides and polysaccharides after biofouling), as well as in nanomorphology. The sorption of Al and Cu was instead statistically dependent (p < 0.01) on the degree of biofouling covering the specimens. Biofouled plastic displayed in fact substantial affinity for metal sorption causing the depletion of up to tenfold Cu and Al compared to pristine polymers, regardless of the polymer type and presence or absence of other ageing treatments. These results confirm the hypothesis that the accumulation of metals on plastic is substantially driven by the biofilm present on environmental plastics. These findings also highlight the importance of investigating the implications of environmental plastic for metal and inorganic nutrients availability in environments impacted by this pollution.