Significance of non-DLVO interactions on the co-transport of levofloxacin and titanium dioxide nanoparticles in porous media

Yiqun Cui; Ming Wu; Guoping Lu; Zhou Cheng; Meng Chen; Yanru Hao; Cehui Mo; Qusheng Li; Jianfeng Wu; Jichun Wu; Bill X Hu

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124079

Significance of non-DLVO interactions on the co-transport of levofloxacin and titanium dioxide nanoparticles in porous media

Environ Pollut. 2024 Apr 29:351:124079. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124079. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yiqun Cui¹, Ming Wu², Guoping Lu¹, Zhou Cheng³, Meng Chen⁴, Yanru Hao¹, Cehui Mo¹, Qusheng Li⁵, Jianfeng Wu⁶, Jichun Wu⁶, Bill X Hu⁷

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Environment Pollution Control and Remediation Materials, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
² Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Environment Pollution Control and Remediation Materials, College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China. Electronic address: wumingnj@foxmail.com.
³ Guangdong Provincial Academy of Environmental Science, Guangzhou, 510045, China.
⁴ Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
⁵ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Surficial Geochemistry, Ministry of Education, Department of Hydrosciences, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
⁷ School of Water Conservancy and Environment, University of Jinan, Jinan, 250022, China.

PMID: 38692390
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124079

Abstract

With the application of engineered nanomaterials and antibiotics in the fields of medicine, aerospace, new energy and agriculture, the associated contamination is detected widely in soil-groundwater systems. It is of great scientific and practical significance to deeply explore the environmental interface process between nanoparticles and antibiotics for the scientific assessment of environmental fate and ecological environmental risks, as well as the development of new composite pollution control technologies. In this study, the co-transport behaviors of positively charged titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂-NPs) and negatively charged levofloxacin (LEV) in quartz sand (QS) are investigated in this study. The results show that TiO₂-NPs hardly flow out when transported alone in the column because of its positive charge, which creates a strong attraction with the negatively charged quartz sand on the surface. When TiO₂-NPs co-migrate with LEV in porous media, the presence of LEV promotes the transport of TiO₂-NPs, while the presence of TiO₂-NPs inhibits LEV transport. Non-XDLVO interactions based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can help explain the observed promotion and inhibition phenomena as well as the correlation between TiO₂-NPs and LEV. The results indicate that TiO₂-LEV complexes or aggregates can be formed during the co-transportation process of TiO₂-NPs and LEV in porous media. As flow velocity increases from 0.204 cm min^-1 to 1.630 cm min^-1, both the transport capacities of TiO₂-NPs and LEV are enhanced significantly. Under the condition of high citric acid (CA) concentration (15 mmol L^-1), the transport capacity of TiO₂-NPs is slightly inhibited, while the transport capacity of LEV is enhanced. This study provides new insights into the transport of nanometallic oxides and antibiotics in porous media, which suggests that non-XDLVO interactions should be considered together when assessing the environmental risks and fate of nanometallic oxides and antibiotics in soil-groundwater systems.

Keywords: Antibiotics; Co-transport; Molecular dynamics simulation; Nanomaterials; Non-XDLVO interaction.