Effect of water-soluble polymers on the transport of functional group-modified polystyrene nanoplastics in goethite-coated saturated porous media

The research on the impact of water-soluble polymers (WSPs) on the migration and fate of plastic particles is extremely limited. This article explored the effects of polyacrylic acid (PAA, a common WSP) and physicochemical factors on the transport of polystyrene nanoparticles (PSNPs-NH2/COOH) with different functional groups in QS (quartz sand) and FOS (goethite-modified quartz sand, simulates mineral colloids). Research has shown that PAA can selectively adsorb onto the surface of PSNPs-NH2, forming ecological corona heterogeneous aggregates. This process increased the spatial hindrance and elastic repulsion, resulting in the recovery of PSNPs-NH2 always exceeding that of PSNPs-COOH. Overall, PAA can hinder the migration of PSNPs in QS but can promote their migration in FOS. When multivalent cations coexist with PAA, the transport of PSNPs in the media is primarily affected by cation bridging and CH-cation-π interaction. The presence of oxyanions and PAA prevents PSNPs from following the Hofmeister rule and promotes their migration (PO43-: 82.34 ± 0.16% to 94.63 ± 2.82%>SO42-: 81.38 ± 2.73% to 91.15 ± 0.93%>NO3-: 55.85 ± 0.70%−87.16 ± 3.80%). The findings of this study contribute significantly to a better understanding of the migration of WSPs and group-modified NPs in complex saturated porous media. [Display omitted] •Polyacrylic acid (PAA) enhances the repulsion to facilitate the migration of PSNPs-NH2.•The migration ability of PSNPs-NH2 is always stronger than that of PSNPs-COOH.•The Eco crown formed by PAA on the PSNPs surface dominated the migration of PSNPs.•Al3+ bridges PAA and PSNPs to form microaggregate, suppressing PSNPs transport.•PAA broke the Hofmeister rule, the migration of PSNPs follow PO43- > SO42- > NO3-.