Antibacterial But Not Environmentally Friendly? "Nano" Antibacterial Socks Release Greenhouse Gases

They are antibacterial, but they may not be environmentally friendly.

A recent study shows that a widely used antibacterial agent

This silver

But at present, the research on the environmental impact of this nanoparticle is confined to the laboratory, and most studies only use a kind of microorganism or plant for testing.

In order to understand its environmental risks in real environment, Benjamin Colman, a chemist at Duke University in North Carolina, adopted a new experimental method.

Colman and his colleagues first collected samples of water and soil from outside and put them in the laboratory. Then they poured the silver nanoparticles into them, and the concentration was very high, with an average of 1.25 milligrams per gram of water.

Then they put out two sets of potted plants outside the house, one of which used clean soil as control, while the other group added 55 micrograms of nanoparticles, which was consistent with the level detected in the waste water.

"These nanoparticles were originally designed to kill harmful bacteria."

Colman said, "but we want to know what the consequences will be in their real environment."

The whole experiment lasted for two months.

But during the first week of the experiment, the number of soil microbial communities in the outdoor potted soil containing nanoparticles increased dramatically.

The researchers also found that the enzyme activity of microorganisms in this group of soil was 34% lower than that of the control group.

Colman said that the concentration of nanoparticles in outdoor experiments is much lower than that in laboratory samples, but it can also significantly reduce the activity of microorganisms. This shows that traditional laboratory experiments can not simulate the real situation in nature.

The researchers then used weather chromatography to detect the gases released by these potted microorganisms.

They were surprised to find that the emission of carbon dioxide from greenhouse gases was 4 times that of the control group.

They published the results of the study at the annual meeting of the American Society of ecology last week.

Donald Wuebbles, an atmospheric scientist at Urbana Champaign, University of Illinois, said that if the experimental results could be reproduced on a large scale, they would "make greater contributions to the study of global climate change".

He said that if carbon dioxide is oxidized into the stratosphere, it will destroy the earth's ozone layer.

Next, the research team will conduct in-depth research.

They plan to inject wastewater containing this silver nanoparticle into a complete wetland ecosystem and observe what consequences it will bring.