Repulsive Interactions of Eco-corona-Covered Microplastic Particles Quantitatively Follow Modeling of Polymer Brushes

The environmental fate and toxicity of microplastic particles are dominated by their surface properties. In the environment, an adsorbed layer of biomolecules and natural organic matter forms the so-called eco-corona. A quantitative description of how this eco-corona changes the particles' coll...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids. - 1992. - 38(2022), 29 vom: 26. Juli, Seite 8748-8756
1. Verfasser: Witzmann, Thomas (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Ramsperger, Anja F R M, Wieland, Simon, Laforsch, Christian, Kress, Holger, Fery, Andreas, Auernhammer, Günter K
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2022
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
Schlagworte:Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Microplastics Plastics Polymers
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:The environmental fate and toxicity of microplastic particles are dominated by their surface properties. In the environment, an adsorbed layer of biomolecules and natural organic matter forms the so-called eco-corona. A quantitative description of how this eco-corona changes the particles' colloidal interactions is still missing. Here, we demonstrate with colloidal probe-atomic force microscopy that eco-corona formation on microplastic particles introduces a compressible film on the surface, which changes the mechanical behavior. We measure single particle-particle interactions and find a pronounced increase of long-range repulsive interactions upon eco-corona formation. These force-separation characteristics follow the Alexander-de Gennes (AdG) polymer brush model under certain conditions. We further compare the obtained fitting parameters to known systems like polyelectrolyte multilayers and propose these as model systems for the eco-corona. Our results show that concepts of fundamental polymer physics, like the AdG model, also help in understanding more complex systems like biomolecules adsorbed to surfaces, i.e., the eco-corona
Beschreibung:Date Completed 27.07.2022
Date Revised 29.08.2022
published: Print-Electronic
Citation Status MEDLINE
ISSN:1520-5827
DOI:10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c03204