TY - JOUR A1 - MacLean, J. A1 - Mayanna, S. A1 - Benning, L. G. A1 - Horn, F. A1 - Bartholomäus, A. A1 - Wiesner, Yosri A1 - Wagner, D. A1 - Liebner, S. T1 - The terrestrial plastisphere: Diversity and polymer-colonizing potential of plastic-associated microbial communities in soil N2 - The concept of a ‘plastisphere microbial community’ arose from research on aquatic plastic debris, while the effect of plastics on microbial communities in soils remains poorly understood. Therefore, we examined the inhabiting microbial communities of two plastic debris ecosystems with regard to their diversity and composition relative to plastic-free soils from the same area using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Furthermore, we studied the plastic-colonizing potential of bacteria originating from both study sites as a measure of surface adhesion to UV-weathered polyethylene (PE) using high-magnification field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The high plastic content of the soils was associated with a reduced alpha diversity and a significantly different structure of the microbial communities. The presence of plastic debris in soils did not specifically enrich bacteria known to degrade plastic, as suggested by earlier studies, but rather shifted the microbial community towards highly abundant autotrophic bacteria potentially tolerant to hydrophobic environments and known to be important for biocrust formation. The bacterial inoculates from both sites formed dense biofilms on the surface and in micrometer-scale surface cracks of the UV-weathered PE chips after 100 days of in vitro incubation with visible threadlike EPS structures and cross-connections enabling surface adhesion. High-resolution FESEM imaging further indicates that the microbial colonization catalyzed some of the surface degradation of PE. In essence, this study suggests the concept of a ‘terrestrial plastisphere’ as a diverse consortium of microorganisms including autotrophs and other pioneering species paving the way for those members of the consortium that may eventually break down the plastic compounds. KW - Soil microbial community KW - Polyethylene colonization KW - Plastic pollution PY - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-542790 VL - 9 IS - 9 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-54279 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Füllenbach, L.C. A1 - Perez, J. P. H. A1 - Freeman, H.M. A1 - Thomas, A.N. A1 - Mayanna, S. A1 - Parker, J. E. A1 - Göttlicher, J. A1 - Steininger, R. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Benning, L.G. A1 - Oelkers, E.H. T1 - Nanoanalytical Identification of Siderite Dissolution-Coupled Pb Removal Mechanisms from Oxic and Anoxic Aqueous Solutions N2 - Lead(II) is a toxic pollutant often found in metalcontaminated soils and wastewaters. In acidic aqueous environments, Pb(II) is highly mobile. Chemical treatment strategies of such systems therefore often include neutralization agents and metal sorbents. Since metal solubility and the retention potential of sorbents depend on the redox state of the aqueous system, we tested the efficiency of the naturally occurring redox-sensitive ferrous iron carbonate mineral siderite to remove Pb(II) from acidic aqueous solutions in batch experiments under oxic and anoxic conditions over a total of 1008 h. Siderite dissolution led to an increase in reactive solution pH from 3 to 5.3 and 6.9, while 90 and 100% of the initial aqueous Pb(II) (0.48 × 10−3 mol kg−1) were removed from the oxic and anoxic systems, respectively. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy, combined with X-ray absorption and photoelectron spectroscopy, indicated that under oxic conditions, Pb(II) was consumed by cerussite precipitation and inner-sphere surface complexation to secondary goethite. Under anoxic conditions, Pb(II) was removed by the rapid precipitation of cerussite. This efficient siderite dissolution-coupled sequestration of Pb(II) into more stable solid phases demonstrates this potential method for contaminated water Treatment regardless of the redox environment. KW - Siderite KW - X-ray absorption spectroscopy KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Wastewater treatment PY - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00180 VL - 4 IS - 11 SP - 1966 EP - 1977 PB - ACS Publication AN - OPUS4-51961 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hoevelmann, J. A1 - Stawski, T. M. A1 - Besselink, R. A1 - Freeman, H. M. A1 - Dietmann, K. M. A1 - Mayanna, S. A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Benning, L. G. T1 - A template-free and low temperature method for the synthesis of mesoporous magnesium phosphate with uniform pore structure and high surface area N2 - Mesoporous phosphates are a group of nanostructured materials with promising applications, particularly in biomedicine and catalysis. However, their controlled synthesis via conventional template-based routes presents a number of challenges and limitations. Here, we show how to synthesize a mesoporous Magnesium phosphate with a high surface area and a well-defined pore structure through thermal decomposition of a crystalline struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) precursor. In a first step, struvite crystals with various morphologies and sizes, ranging from a few micrometers to several millimeters, had been synthesized from supersaturated aqueous solutions (saturation index (SI) between 0.5 and 4) at ambient pressure and temperature conditions. Afterwards, the crystals were thermally treated at 70–250 °C leading to the release of structurally bound water (H2O) and ammonia (NH3). By combining thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), N2 sorption analyses and small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) we show that this decomposition process results in a pseudomorphic transformation of the original struvite into an amorphous Mg-phosphate. Of particular importance is the fact that the final material is characterized by a very uniform mesoporous structure with 2–5 nm wide pore channels, a large specific surface area of up to 300 m2 g−1 and a total pore volume of up to 0.28 cm3 g−1. Our struvite decomposition method is well controllable and reproducible and can be easily extended to the synthesis of other mesoporous phosphates. In addition, the so produced mesoporous material is a prime candidate for use in biomedical applications considering that Magnesium phosphate is a widely used, non-toxic substance that has already shown excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. KW - Struvite KW - SAXS KW - Scattering KW - Nanoporous KW - Geology PY - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-477130 VL - 11 IS - 14 SP - 6939 EP - 6951 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-47713 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -