Nizam Muhammad Ikhwan, Hafiz Nurfarwizah Adzuan, Osman Mohamed Syazwan, Abdul Wahab Mohamad Syafiq, Wang Lei, Abu Bakar Noor Fitrah, Hussain Mohamed Hasaan, Mustapa Nur Lina Syahirah, Wang Chongqing
EMZI-UiTM Nanoparticles Colloids & Interface Industrial Research Laboratory (NANO-CORE), Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Pulau Pinang, Permatang Pauh, 13500, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
EMZI-UiTM Nanoparticles Colloids & Interface Industrial Research Laboratory (NANO-CORE), Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Pulau Pinang, Permatang Pauh, 13500, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
J Environ Manage. 2025 Aug;389:126094. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126094. Epub 2025 Jun 4.
Microplastics (MPs) and pharmaceutical pollutants are emerging contaminants in aquatic environments. While microplastics can adsorb pharmaceutical pollutants, the mechanisms governing their interactions and the factors influencing these processes are not well understood. Understanding these interactions is crucial for assessing the environmental impact of co-existing pollutants. This study investigates the interaction between polyethylene (PE) MPs and ibuprofen (IB) in aquatic environments using a combination of molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) and batch adsorption experiments. The isotherms and kinetic models were applied to analyze the adsorption data, while MDS provided insights into the molecular interactions occurring between IB and PE MPs in aqueous environments. The adsorption capacity of IB onto PE MPs reaches 0.4139 mg/g, and the adsorption process follows the Temkin (R = 0.9671) and Elovich (R = 0.9856) models, suggesting a complex adsorption mechanism involving multilayer adsorption on the non-uniform surface. MDS reveals that non-bond interactions, particularly van der Waals forces, dominate the interaction between IB and PE MPs. This study provides critical insights into how MPs and pharmaceutical pollutants interact in aqueous environments, offering a deeper understanding of the environmental behavior of these co-existing pollutants.
微塑料（MPs）和药物污染物是水生环境中新兴的污染物。虽然微塑料可以吸附药物污染物，但控制它们相互作用的机制以及影响这些过程的因素尚未得到很好的理解。了解这些相互作用对于评估共存污染物的环境影响至关重要。本研究结合分子动力学模拟（MDS）和批量吸附实验，研究了水生环境中聚乙烯（PE）微塑料与布洛芬（IB）之间的相互作用。采用等温线和动力学模型分析吸附数据，而MDS则深入了解了水环境中IB与PE微塑料之间发生的分子相互作用。IB在PE微塑料上的吸附容量达到0.4139 mg/g，吸附过程符合Temkin模型（R = 0.9671）和Elovich模型（R = 0.9856），表明存在一种复杂的吸附机制，涉及在不均匀表面上的多层吸附。MDS显示，非键相互作用，特别是范德华力，主导了IB与PE微塑料之间的相互作用。本研究为微塑料和药物污染物在水环境中的相互作用提供了关键见解，有助于更深入地了解这些共存污染物的环境行为。
