Inhalation exposure to nanoplastic particles (NPPs) can lead to significant pulmonary toxicity; however, the effects of environmental processing on their toxicity remain poorly understood. This study ...

Nanoplastic particles (NPPs) are emerging anthropogenic pollutants and have been detected in urban, rural, and remote areas. Characterizing the lifetime, fate, and cloud-forming potential of atmosphe...

The Texas A&M Environmental Chamber (TAMEC) was employed to generate secondary organic aerosols (SOA) by oxidizing β-caryophyllene with hydroxyl radicals (•OH) in the presence of ammonium bisulfate...

Micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNPPs) are emerging pollutants with significant environmental impacts due to their persistence, increasing concentrations, and potential health risks. Most MNPP studies have focused on identifying, quantifying, and assessing their ecotoxicological impacts in water or soil. However, the atmosphere is crucial in transporting and chemically transforming MNPPs. Further, well-established aerosol particle characterization techniques are underutilized and inconsistently applied in existing atmospheric MNPP studies. This perspective synthesizes the existing literature and addresses future research needs unique to atmospheric MNPPs, highlighting the need to bridge the microplastics and atmospheric aerosol communities to better understand their sources, chemical transformations, transport mechanisms, as well as their health effects and ecological impacts, which differ from those in soil and water. Advancing research in these areas requires standardized methods and a multidisciplinary approach to comprehensively assess MNPP interactions across environmental compartments, providing essential insights into their environmental fate and risks.

Isoprene, the most abundant nonmethane volatile organic compound in the atmosphere, undergoes photochemical reactions with hydroxyl radical (•OH), a major sink for isoprene, leading to the formation o...

Texas A&M doctoral student Sahir Gagan is exploring how tiny plastic particles and dangerous chemicals in the air could impact our health and the environment.

Organic aerosols (OAs) may serve as ice-nucleating particles (INPs), impacting the formation and properties of cirrus clouds when their phase state and viscosity are in the semisolid to glassy range. ...