Vertical transport and plant uptake of nanoparticles in a soil mesocosm experiment

BACKGROUND: Agricultural soils represent a potential sink for increasing amounts of different nanomaterials that nowadays inevitably enter the environment. Knowledge on the relation between their actual exposure concentrations and biological effects on crops and symbiotic organisms is therefore of high importance. In this part of a joint companion study, we describe the vertical translocation as well as plant uptake of three different titanium dioxide (nano-)particles (TiO(2) NPs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) within a pot experiment with homogenously spiked natural agricultural soil and two plant species (red clover and wheat). RESULTS: TiO(2) NPs exhibited limited mobility from soil to leachates and did not induce significant titanium uptake into both plant species, although average concentrations were doubled from 4 to 8 mg/kg Ti at the highest exposures. While the mobility of MWCNTs in soil was limited as well, microwave-induced heating suggested MWCNT-plant uptake independent of the exposure concentration. CONCLUSIONS: Quantification of actual exposure concentrations with a series of analytical methods confirmed nominal ones in soil mesocosms with red clover and wheat and pointed to low mobility and limited plant uptake of titanium dioxide nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12951-016-0191-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.