Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) are now common ingredients in a wide variety of commercial products, significantly increasing the incidental or intentional release and buildup in the environment. A large fraction of these ENPs get into agricultural systems and their uptake and accumulation in food crops become a serious food safety concern. Even though numerous studies have been performed and some physiochemical properties of ENPs have been suspected to play more important roles than others in their uptake and accumulation, it remains uncertain which property is a dominant factor, and how the governing factor for plant uptake of ENPs may vary with different nanoparticle compositions and plant growing conditions. After compiling data from the past ten years of studies in the literature concerning the plant uptake and accumulation of ENPs, different machine learning tools were used to identify chief factors governing the extent of plant uptake of ENPs. Preliminary analysis with recursive feature elimination (RFE) algorithm indicated that nanoparticle size and surface charge are two dominant parameters affecting plant uptake of ENPs in a hydroponic system. However, their relative significance varies with nanoparticle composition and the concerned plant tissues. For example, while the size of cerium oxide nanoparticles is the most dominant factor in their accumulation in plant roots, surface charge appears more important in their accumulation in plant shoots. For zinc oxide nanoparticles, the opposite becomes true that the surface charge is the most significant factor in plant root accumulation while the size is more critical in plant root accumulation. The presence of soil in the growth media has a substantial effect on plant uptake of some ENPs. In a soil growing condition, the total organic matter contents in soil becomes the primary factor controlling the uptake and accumulation of zinc oxide nanoparticles and copper oxide nanoparticles in plant shoots. These results generate significant insights into the extent of ENP uptake in different growing conditions and shed light on the sustainable manufacturing of engineered nanoparticles. The results also suggest that while hydroponic studies are important, they may not represent the full picture of plant uptake of ENPs in actual environment where soil is generally present.

Identifying the governing factors for plant uptake of engineered nanoparticles through machine learning

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.