Data on sorption of organic compounds by aged polystyrene microplastic particles

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Polymer Science
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Microplastics are prevalent environmental pollutants.
• Understanding the sorption behavior of organic compounds by microplastics is vital for assessing their environmental risks.
• Polystyrene microplastics are common, but their aged properties influencing sorption are less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally determine the sorption isotherms of 21 probe sorbates by UV-aged polystyrene microplastics.
• To model the experimental sorption data using linear free-energy relationships.
• To provide data for interpreting the environmental behavior of aged microplastics.

Main Methods:

• Polystyrene microplastics were artificially aged using UV-induced photo-oxidation with hydrogen peroxide.
• Sorption experiments were conducted using 21 different organic probe sorbates.
• Sorption data were analyzed and modeled using single- and poly-parameter linear free-energy relationships.

Main Results:

• Experimental sorption isotherms for aged polystyrene microplastics and 21 probe sorbates were generated.
• The study provides a dataset for the sorption behavior of aged microplastics.
• Linear free-energy relationships were applied to model the sorption data.

Conclusions:

• The study presents quantitative data on the sorption of organic compounds by aged polystyrene microplastics.
• The findings contribute to the understanding of microplastic-organic compound interactions in the environment.
• Refer to Hüffer et al. (2018) for a comprehensive discussion and interpretation of the data.