Interactions of engineered nanoparticles with dissolved organic matter (DOM) and organic contaminants in water

Abstract

Background: Engineered carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are expected to be increasingly released into the environment with the rapid increase in their production and use. The discharged CNTs may interact with coexisting contaminants and subsequently change environmental behaviors and ecological effects of both the CNTs themselves and the contaminants. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays a critical role in the transport of CNTs in the aquatic environment, affecting both CNT's surface properties through adsorption, and its colloidal stability in solution. Therefore, CNT-bound DOM complexes may interact with coexisting contaminants, thus affecting their environmental fate. With increasing production and use of CNTs, there is an increasing risk that humans could be exposed to CNTs mainly through ingestion and inhalation. Since CNTs can be carriers of contaminants due to their high adsorption affinity and capacity, the distribution of these nanoparticles in the environment holds a potential environmental and health risk. Project objectives: The overall goal of this project was to gain a better understanding of the environmental behavior of engineered nanoparticles with DOM and organic pollutant in aqueous systems. The scope of this study includes: characterizing various types of engineered nanoparticles and their interaction with DOM; binding studies of organic contaminants by nanoparticles and DOM-nanoparticle complexes; and examining interactions in DOM-nanoparticles-contaminant systems. Major conclusions, solutions and achievements: DOM has a pronounced effect on colloidal stability of CNTs in solution and on their surface chemistry and reactivity toward associated contaminants. The structure and chemical makeup of both CNTs and DOM determine their interactions and nature of formed complexes. CNTs, contaminants and DOM can co-occur in the aquatic environment. The occurrence of co-contaminants, as well as of co-introduction of DOM, was found to suppress the adsorption of organic contaminants to CNTs through both competition over adsorption sites and direct interactions in solution. Furthermore, the release of residual contaminants from CNTs could be enhanced by biomolecules found in the digestive as well as the respiratory tracts, thus increasing the bioaccessibility of adsorbed contaminants and possibly the overall toxicity of contaminant-associated CNTs. Contaminant desorption could be promoted by both solubilization and sorptive competition by biological surfactants. Scientific and agricultural implications: The information gained in the current project may assist in predicting the transport and fate of both CNTs and associated contaminants in the natural environment. Furthermore, the results imply a serious health risk from contaminant-associated CNTs.