Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, PR China.
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Nov 25;693:133654. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133654. Epub 2019 Jul 29.
Smartphones have become an integral tool of society; in the year 2017, approximately 30% of the global population used smartphones. After their life cycle of use, most smartphones are not recycled and are instead discarded as e-waste, which increases the probability that chemicals they contain will eventually be released into the natural environment. In this study, the concentration and distribution of 52 major flame retardant (FR) chemicals were measured in eight components of seven models of largely produced smartphones. The results demonstrated that organophosphate esters (OPEs) were the principal FRs in these smartphone devices, while a suite of halogenated flame retardants (HFRs), including 25 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), were not detected. Triphenyl phosphate (TPHP) was the primary FR in the smartphones, followed by tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP), 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP), triethyl phosphate (TEP), tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), and tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), respectively. The average smartphone contained 3.37 × 10 ng TPHP/unit, which was concentrated in the phone screen. We estimated the annual amount of ΣOPEs and TPHP in smartphones used globally to be 53.5 and 51.8 tons, respectively. Extracts of phone screens were further analyzed by use of an untargeted screening strategy, and other 10 organic chemicals were identified. Interestingly, 3 out of them shared similar backbone structure of TPHP, and these 3 chemicals were tri(2,4-di-t-butylphenyl) phosphate (TDTBPP; CAS No. 95906-11-9), 2-biphenylol diphenyl phosphate (BPDPP; 132-29-6), and tris (2-biphenyl) phosphate (TBPHP; 132-28-5). Collectively, this study provided the first information on distribution of major FRs in different components of smartphones, and also identified other 10 current-use organic chemicals including three novel aryl OPEs which should be considered in further environmental studies including in toxicological and monitoring programs.
智能手机已成为社会不可或缺的工具；在 2017 年，全球约有 30%的人口使用智能手机。在它们的使用寿命结束后，大多数智能手机并没有被回收，而是作为电子垃圾被丢弃，这增加了它们所含的化学物质最终将释放到自然环境中的可能性。在这项研究中，我们测量了七种不同型号的智能手机的八个部件中 52 种主要阻燃剂（FR）化学物质的浓度和分布。结果表明，有机磷酸酯（OPEs）是这些智能手机设备中的主要 FR，而一系列卤代阻燃剂（HFRs），包括 25 种多溴联苯醚（PBDEs），则没有被检测到。磷酸三苯酯（TPHP）是智能手机中的主要 FR，其次是磷酸三（2-丁氧基乙基）酯（TBOEP）、2-乙基己基二苯基磷酸酯（EHDPP）、磷酸三乙酯（TEP）、磷酸三（2-氯乙基）酯（TCEP）和磷酸三（2-氯异丙基）酯（TCIPP）。平均每部智能手机含有 3.37×10ng TPHP/单位，集中在手机屏幕上。我们估计全球每年使用的智能手机中ΣOPEs 和 TPHP 的总量分别为 53.5 和 51.8 吨。手机屏幕的提取物进一步采用非靶向筛选策略进行分析，鉴定出其他 10 种有机化学品。有趣的是，其中 3 种物质具有与 TPHP 相似的骨架结构，这 3 种物质是三（2,4-二特丁基苯基）磷酸酯（TDTBPP；CAS No.95906-11-9）、2-联苯酚二苯基磷酸酯（BPDPP；132-29-6）和三（2-联苯基）磷酸酯（TBPHP；132-28-5）。总的来说，这项研究提供了智能手机不同部件中主要 FR 分布的第一手信息，还鉴定出了其他 10 种目前正在使用的有机化学品，包括 3 种新型芳基 OPEs，在包括毒理学和监测计划在内的进一步环境研究中应该考虑这些物质。
