Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) aggregate with phytoplankton to form aggregates that impede light and oxygen penetration, and the adsorbed nitrogen and phosphorus are either taken up by algae or released into the water column, thereby exacerbating water eutrophication. Therefore, it is imperative to simultaneously control nutrients (N and P) and MPs pollution in water. To address this, nano-Fe3O4 with different surface modifications (–COOH, –NH2, and –OH) was developed to control these mixed pollutants. The results showed that the surface modification can enhance the affinity for NH4+, PO43- and polyethylene microplastic (PE-MP), which can achieve exceptional adsorption capacities for NH4+-N (18.45 mg/g), PO43--P (30.04 mg/g), and PE-MP (1611 mg/g). OH-Fe3O4 efficiently removed NH4+-N (2 mg/L), PO43--P (5 mg/L), and PE-MP (1 g/L, 13 μm) from two types of water, achieving removal rates of 80 %, 95 %, and 62 % in freshwater, and 78 %, 94 %, and 70 % in seawater, respectively. FTIR, XPS, kinetic analysis, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that nano-Fe3O4 provides abundant active sites for MPs and PO43- through electrostatic adsorption and hydrogen bonding, while there is a Fe-O-P bond with PO43-. The NH4+ can be adsorbed on MPs via ion exchange. In addition, –COOH enhances affinity for NH4+, –NH2 increases the holding capacity for PO43-, and –OH strengthens PE-MP adsorption. The environmental impact of the production of nano-Fe3O4 demonstrates the economic feasibility and environmental friendliness of this process. The findings of this study offer promising data that can inform the future development of sustainable and cost-effective materials to combat eutrophication and MPs pollution.

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