Monte Carlo simulations of heteroaggregation of colloidal plastic particles

Nano- and microplastics are an emergent threat for human health and the environment, especially for marine and riverine habitats. To assess the influence on the ecosystem and provide possible solutions, it is necessary to investigate the "fate" of nano plastics in environmental conditions. However, the polydispersity in size, and shape of nano plastics, low concentration levels, different chemistries and the various environmental conditions make it difficult to predict how those particles behave in the environment. To address this challenge, we perform Monte Carlo Simulations and aim to understand the effect of size, shape and solvent conditions on phase behavior of nanoplastic particles. Our studies focus on the heteroaggregation of nanoplastics of different shapes with suspended particulate matter (SPM) that is ubiquitous in natural waters. We mimic different solvent conditions (salt concentration and valency) and SPM surface chemistries by using a generic pair potential with short-range attraction and long-range repulsion.We aim to gain insights into the stability, size and structure of resulting aggregates of nanoplastics in different environmental settings.