The Synergy of Adsorption and Advanced Oxidation for Enhanced Microplastic Abatement in Water

IF 9.3 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Current Pollution Reports Pub Date : 2026-09-30 DOI:10.1007/s40726-026-00430-9

Yingwei Qin, Xiaoyan Wang, Cuizhu Sun, Hao Zheng, Xianxiang Luo, Lingyun Chen, Fengmin Li

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Microplastic (MP) pollution in water environments threatens ecological safety and human health. The small size, hydrophobicity, and large surface area of MPs facilitate ingestion by marine organisms and their role as vectors for co‑occurring contaminants, thereby amplifying ecological and health risks. Existing wastewater treatment facilities can remove over 90% of large MPs (> 50 μm), but the removal and degradation of fine MPs and nanoplastics remain difficult because of their high mobility, low settling rates, and polymer backbones. Unlike prior reviews focused on standalone treatments or dissolved pollutants, this review addresses adsorption-advanced oxidation process (AOP) synergistic technologies for particulate MP abatement, emphasizing the interfacial coupling between MP enrichment and in situ oxidative degradation in adsorption-photocatalysis, adsorption-Fenton, and adsorption-electrochemical oxidation systems.

Recent Findings

Adsorption offers high enrichment efficiency, while AOPs (e.g., photocatalysis, Fenton, persulfate oxidation, ozonation, and electrochemical oxidation) generate strong reactive species. However, each standalone method has inherent limitations. Adsorption merely transfers MPs to another phase, leading to secondary pollution, whereas AOPs are constrained by poor mass transfer and low radical utilization at low MP concentrations. Integrated adsorption‑AOP synergistic systems leverage a targeted enrichment-in situ degradation mechanism to increase local MP concentration, shorten mass‑transfer paths, and achieve concurrent enrichment and oxidation. Key adsorption-catalysis interfaces include carbon‑based materials, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), chitin‑based materials, and conductive electrodes, which facilitate MP capture, interfacial activation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) utilization.

Summary

Adsorption‑AOPs synergistic technologies outperform standalone approaches by enabling targeted enrichment and in situ MP degradation, thereby overcoming the low removal efficiency for small MPs. This review clarifies how interfacial enrichment, mass-transfer modulation, and localized ROS utilization underpin the synergy of adsorption-AOPs. Future work should prioritize long‑term stability, performance under real‑water matrix conditions, secondary‑risk assessment, toxicity reduction, and cost evaluation to promote standardized and practical MP pollution control in water environments.

Graphical Abstract

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吸附与深度氧化协同强化水中微塑料去除

水环境中的微塑料污染威胁着生态安全和人类健康。MPs的小尺寸、疏水性和大表面积有利于海洋生物的摄入，并可作为同时发生的污染物的载体，从而扩大生态和健康风险。现有的废水处理设施可以去除90%以上的大型MPs (> 50 μm)，但由于其高迁移率、低沉降率和聚合物骨架，精细MPs和纳米塑料的去除和降解仍然很困难。不同于以往的文献关注于独立处理或溶解污染物，本综述探讨了吸附-高级氧化过程（AOP）协同技术用于颗粒MP减排，强调了吸附-光催化、吸附- fenton和吸附-电化学氧化系统中MP富集与原位氧化降解之间的界面耦合。吸附具有较高的富集效率，而AOPs（如光催化、Fenton、过硫酸盐氧化、臭氧氧化和电化学氧化）产生较强的活性物质。然而，每种独立的方法都有其固有的局限性。吸附只是将MPs转移到另一相，导致二次污染，而AOPs在低MP浓度下受到传质差和自由基利用率低的限制。集成的吸附- AOP协同系统利用靶向富集-原位降解机制来增加局部MP浓度，缩短传质路径，并实现同步富集和氧化。关键的吸附催化界面包括碳基材料、金属有机框架（MOFs）、共价有机框架（COFs）、几丁质基材料和导电电极，它们有助于MP捕获、界面激活和活性氧（ROS）的利用。吸附- AOPs协同技术优于独立方法，实现了靶向富集和原位MP降解，从而克服了小MP的低去除效率。这篇综述阐明了界面富集、传质调制和局部ROS利用如何支撑吸附- aops的协同作用。未来的工作应优先考虑长期稳定性、真实水基质条件下的性能、二次风险评估、毒性降低和成本评估，以促进水环境中标准化和实用的MP污染控制。图形抽象

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来源期刊

Current Pollution Reports Environmental Science-Water Science and Technology

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

1.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： Current Pollution Reports provides in-depth review articles contributed by international experts on the most significant developments in the field of environmental pollution.By presenting clear, insightful, balanced reviews that emphasize recently published papers of major importance, the journal elucidates current and emerging approaches to identification, characterization, treatment, management of pollutants and much more.