Understanding the risks of mercury sulfide nanoparticles in the environment: Formation, presence, and environmental behaviors  

作　　者：Pei Lei Nan Zou Yujiao Liu Weiping Cai Mengjie Wu Wenli Tang Huan Zhong 

机构地区：[1]State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse,School of Environment,Nanjing University,Nanjing 210023,China [2]Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation,Institute of Soil Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Nanjing 210008,China [3]University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China [4]Environmental and Life Sciences Program(EnLS),Trent University,Peterborough Ontario,K9L 0G2,Canada

出　　处：《Journal of Environmental Sciences》2022年第9期78-92,共15页环境科学学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20200322);the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 42107383, U2032201);the special fund from the State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (RCEES, CAS) (No. 20K02ESPCR)。

摘　　要：Mercury(Hg) could be microbially methylated to the bioaccumulative neurotoxin methylmercury(Me Hg), raising health concerns. Understanding the methylation of various Hg species is thus critical in predicting the Me Hg risk. Among the known Hg species, mercury sulfide(HgS) is the largest Hg reservoir in the lithosphere and has long been considered to be highly inert. However, with advances in the analytical methods of nanoparticles, HgS nanoparticles(HgS NPs) have recently been detected in various environmental matrices or organisms. Furthermore, pioneering laboratory studies have reported the high bioavailability of HgS NPs. The formation, presence, and transformation(e.g., methylation) of HgS NPs are intricately related to several environmental factors, especially dissolved organic matter(DOM). The complexity of the behavior of HgS NPs and the heterogeneity of DOM prevent us from comprehensively understanding and predicting the risk of HgS NPs. To reveal the role of HgS NPs in Hg biogeochemical cycling, research needs should focus on the following aspects: the formation pathways, the presence, and the environmental behaviors of HgS NPs impacted by the dominant influential factor of DOM. We thus summarized the latest progress in these aspects and proposed future research priorities, e.g., developing the detection techniques of HgS NPs and probing HgS NPs in various matrices, further exploring the interactions between DOM and HgS NPs. Besides, as most of the previous studies were conducted in laboratories, our current knowledge should be further refreshed through field observations, which would help to gain better insights into predicting the Hg risks in natural environment.

关 键 词：BIOAVAILABILITY BIOACCUMULATION Organic matter Mercury methylation Dissolution Aggregation 

分 类 号：X131[环境科学与工程—环境科学]