Behavior of Ag nanoparticles in soil: effects of particle surface coating, aging and sewage sludge amendment

This study addressed the relative importance of particle coating, sewage sludge amendment, and aging on aggregation and dissolution of manufactured Ag nanoparticles (Ag MNPs) in soil pore water. Ag MNPs with citrate (CIT) or polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) coatings were incubated with soil or municipal sewage sludge which was then amended to soil (1% or 3% sludge (w/w)). Pore waters were extracted after 1 week and 2 and 6 months and analyzed for chemical speciation, aggregation state and dissolution. Ag MNP coating had profound effects on aggregation state and partitioning to pore water in the absence of sewage sludge, but pre-incubation with sewage sludge negated these effects. This suggests that Ag MNP coating does not need to be taken into account to understand fate of AgMNPs applied to soil through biosolids amendment. Aging of soil also had profound effects that depended on Ag MNP coating and sludge amendment.