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The dispersion, stability, and resuspension of C60 in environmental water matrices

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Abstract

Environmental waters cover a range of water quality characteristics which could greatly affect the behavior and fate of C60 in the aquatic environment. In this study, the dispersion and stability of C60 in several environmental water matrices during a 70-day extended mixing period were investigated to better understand its environmental behavior and fate in environmental waters. Relatively stable nanoscale aggregates in water (aqu/nC60) could be formed in wastewater influent, while unstable suspensions were obtained in river water, wastewater effluent, seawater, and estuarine water. During the extended mixing under sunlight, oxygen-containing moieties were produced on the surface of the C60 aggregates, independent of the kind of environmental water matrices. Once the mixed system went under quiescent condition, aggregation and sedimentation of aqu/nC60 occurred. However, an extremely short-time disturbance could easily resuspend the C60 aggregates deposited and increase the concentration of aqu/nC60 in the overlying water column. Therefore, the effects of resuspension should be considered when investigating the environmental behavior and fate of C60.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51479016 and 51308083), the Startup Foundation for Doctoral Scientific Research of Liaoning Province (20170520368), and the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province of China (20180510004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Linghai Road 1, Dalian, 116026, People’s Republic of China

    Guanghui Ding, Xueyao Li, Nannan Zhang, Ruijuan Li & Zhanning Yang

  2. College of Environment and Chemical Technology, Dalian University, Dalian, 116622, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Zhang & Yingying Wang

  3. Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Willie J. G. M. Peijnenburg

  4. Center for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), 3720 BA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Willie J. G. M. Peijnenburg

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  1. Guanghui Ding
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  2. Xueyao Li
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  3. Jing Zhang
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  4. Nannan Zhang
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  8. Willie J. G. M. Peijnenburg
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Correspondence to Guanghui Ding or Jing Zhang.

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Ding, G., Li, X., Zhang, J. et al. The dispersion, stability, and resuspension of C60 in environmental water matrices. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 25538–25549 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05817-4

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