Mikołaj Feculak, MSc
PhD supervisor: Izabela Jośko, Ph.D. Associate Professor
Discipline: Agriculture and horticulture

The significance of chemical and biological transformations of nanoparticles for their interaction with emerging contaminants and their dissemination in the environment.

Due to the intensive development of nanotechnology and growing use of nano-products, nanoparticles (ENPs) are commonly identified as one of the environmental pollutants. ENPs entering the environment may undergo various transformations that affect their physicochemical properties (dissolution rate, surface chemistry), which determine their behavior in the environment and impact on living organisms. In addition, other emerging contaminants widely occurring in the environment such as antibiotics (ABXs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) may interact with ENPs, it implies an unknown risk for their dissemination and toxicity. It is therefore of utmost importance to understand the mechanisms of interactions between ENPs and ECs and a role of transformations of ENPs for the persistent and type of these relations. For this purpose, the transformations of inorganic ENPs (ZnO, CuO), including change of their speciation and the formation of bio-corona on their surface, will be carried out. Next, the impact of transformation of ENPs on the sorption of ECs will be tested with the respect to the risk of dissemination of these ECs and environmental implications of their co-occurrence. This study will be used to verify the hypotheses assuming that the type and degree of transformations of ENPs determine their behavior in the environment, including changes in their sorption properties towards pollutants and their potential for transmission of other ECs. The results of the planned research will be a valuable contribution to the current knowledge on the transformation of ENPs in the environment and their significance for a long-term existence of ENPs in the environment.