[Silver nanoparticles in natural water environment: Source, analysis and transformation]

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as one of the most widely used metal nanomaterials can enter soil and water environment via various pathways, exert toxicity on water-borne organisms and deteriorate the aquatic eco-environment. With complex composition of natural water, the physicochemical property of AgNPs as nano materials makes their transformation process more complicated in water system. Therefore, understanding of the fate and transport of AgNPs in aqueous environment is extremely important for water quality management and protection of the eco-environment. Deve-lopment of modern science and technology has made it possible to study the process of the dissolution of AgNPs in environment. This paper summarized the source and risk of AgNPs in environment, analyzed impacts of environmental factors such as pH, dissolved oxygen, ionic strength and intrinsic factors of AgNPs such as particle size and coating on the AgNPs transformation in water environment, and summarized the main analytical techniques for the AgNPs size, potential and morphology. Finally, this paper pointed out the major research gaps in the current research and provided prospective for the future research.