Organic matter induced mobilization of polymer-coated silver nanoparticles from water-saturated sand

Mobilization of polymer-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by anionic surfactant (sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate: SDBS), amino acid derivative (N-acetylcysteine: NAC), and chelate (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid: EDTA) in water-saturated sand medium was explored based on carefully designed column tests. Exposure experiments monitoring the size evolution of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) coated AgNPs in organic solutions confirm the capacity of SDBS, NAC and EDTA to partly displace PVP. Single Pulse Column Experiment (SPCE) results show both the PVP polymer and the silver core controlled AgNP deposition while the effect of the PVP was dominant. Results of Co-injected Pulse Column Experiments (CPCEs) where AgNP and SDBS or NAC were co-injected into the column following a very short mixing (<1 s) disprove our hypothesis that coating-alternation by particle associated organic would mobilize irreversibly deposited particles from the uncoated sand, while surface charge modification by adsorbed NAC was identified as a potential mobilizing mechanism for AgNP from the iron-oxide-coated sand. Triple Pulse Column Experiment (TPCE) results confirm that such a charging effect of the adsorbed organic molecules may enable SDBS and NAC to mobilize AgNPs from the iron-oxide-coated sands. TPCE results with five distinct levels of SDBS indicate that concentration-stimulated change in the SDBS format from an individual to a micelle significantly increased the mobilizing efficiency and site blockage of SDBS. Although being an electrolyte, EDTA did not mobilize AgNPs, as the case with SDBS or NAC, as it dissolved the iron oxides which in turn prevented EDTA adsorption on sand. The findings have implications for better understanding the behavior of polymer-coated nanoparticles in organic-presented groundwater systems, i.e., detachment-associated uncertainty in exposure prediction of the nanomaterials.