Abstract As an emerging pollutant in the life cycle of plastic products, micro/nanoplastics (M/NPs) are increasingly being released into the natural environment. Substantial concerns have been raised regarding the environmental and health impacts of M/NPs. Although diverse M/NPs have been detected in natural environment, most of them display two similar features, i.e.,high surface area and strong binding affinity, which enable extensive interactions between M/NPs and surrounding substances. This results in the formation of coronas, including eco-coronas and bio-coronas, on the plastic surface in different media. In real exposure scenarios, corona formation on M/NPs is inevitable and often displays variable and complex structures. The surface coronas have been found to impact the transportation, uptake, distribution, biotransformation and toxicity of particulates. Different from conventional toxins, packages on M/NPs rather than bare particles are more dangerous. We, therefore, recommend seriously consideration of the role of surface coronas in safety assessments. This review summarizes recent progress on the eco–coronas and bio-coronas of M/NPs, and further discusses the analytical methods to interpret corona structures, highlights the impacts of the corona on toxicity and provides future perspectives. 

https://particleandfibretoxicology.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12989-022-00492-9

Coronas of micro/nano plastics: a key determinant in their risk assessments

Nanomaterials for microplastic remediation from aquatic environment: Why nano matters?

/pdf/coronas-of-micro-nano-plastics-a-key-determinant-in-their-8od383la.pdf

Plastic fibers are ubiquitous in daily life with additives incorporated to improve their performance. Only a few restrictions exist for a paucity of common additives, while most of the additives used in textile industry have not been clearly regulated with threshold limits. The production of synthetic fibers, which can shed fibrous microplastics easily (< 5 mm) through mechanical abrasion and weathering, is increasing annually. These fibrous microplastics have become the main composition of microplastics in the environment. This review focuses on additives on synthetic fibers; we summarized the detection methods of additives, compared concentrations of different additive types (plasticizers, flame retardants, antioxidants, and surfactants) on (micro)plastic fibers, and analyzed their release and exposure pathways to environment and human beings. Our prediction shows that the amounts of predominant additives (phthalates, organophosphate esters, bisphenols, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and nonylphenol ethoxylates) released from clothing microplastic fibers (MFs) are estimated to reach 35, 10, 553, 0.4, and 568 ton/year to water worldwide, respectively; and 119, 35, 1911, 1.4, and 1965 ton/year to air, respectively. Human exposure to MF additives via inhalation is estimated to be up to 4.5–6440 µg/person annually for the above five additives, and via ingestion 0.1–204 µg/person. Notably, the release of additives from face masks is nonnegligible that annual human exposure to phthalates, organophosphate esters, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from masks via inhalation is approximately 491–1820 µg/person. This review helps understand the environmental fate and potential risks of released additives from (micro)plastic fibers, with a view to providing a basis for future research and policy designation of textile additives. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748405

An Overview of Chemical Additives on (Micro)Plastic Fibers: Occurrence, Release, and Health Risks

Advances and prospects of carbon dots for microplastic analysis.

Separation and characterization of microplastic and nanoplastic particles in marine environment

The mechanical properties of Al–Si–Mg alloys are largely related to eutectic Si, intermetallics and pores. In this study, the effects of the Sc addition on the eutectic Si, Sc containing precipitates and pores were investigated, and the mechanical properties of the alloy were improved by adding Sc. The Sc addition leads to the formation of Al3M (M = Sc, Zr, Ti,V) and reduction of pore size, increasing the yield strength (YTS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation (EL) of the alloy after the T6 heat treatment. The formation of thermally stable Al3M (M = Sc, Zr, Ti,V) after the T6 heat treatment improves the elevated temperature strength. 

Jon Lasser

Papers

Separation and characterization of microplastic and nanoplastic particles in marine environment

Improving mechanical properties of Al–Si–Cu–Mg alloys by microallying Sc using thermodynamic calculations

Designing elastic modulus of Al3X precipitates in Al alloys by identifying effective atomic bonds and stabilizing coherent structures

Designing elastic modulus of Al3X precipitates in Al alloys by identifying effective atomic bonds and stabilizing coherent structures