Sulfides mediate the migration of nanoparticle mass out of nanocomposite plastics and into aqueous environments

We show that inorganic sulfides strongly influence transfer (migration) of nanoparticle mass out of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) and into aqueous environments. We first manufactured two families of PNCs: one incorporating silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and one incorporating CdSe quantum dots (QDs). Then, we assessed migration out of these PNCs and into aqueous media containing Na2S at concentrations ranging from 0 to 10−4 M. Results show that Na2S strongly suppressed migration of Ag from AgNP-based PNCs: the migration into water spiked with 10−6 M Na2S was 79% less than migration into water without Na2S, and no migration was detected (LOD ≈ 0.01 ng/cm2) in water spiked with Na2S at 10−5 M or 10−4 M. With CdSe QD-based PNCs, Na2S suppressed Cd migration but enhanced Se migration, resulting in only a small net effect on the total QD migration but a large shift of the leachate composition (from favoring Cd by an average of 5.8 to 1 in pure water to favoring Se 9.4 to 1 when Na2S was present at 10−4 M). These results show that common inorganic substances like sulfides may play a strong role in determining the environmental fate of polymer-dispersed nanoparticles and imply that migration tests conducted in purified water may not always accurately reflect migration into real environments.