A combined experimental and modeling study to evaluate pH-dependent sorption of polar and non-polar compounds to polyethylene and polystyrene microplastics

Although neutral species primarily dominate the overall sorption, hydrophobic entities of ionic species cannot be neglected for some compounds. Notwithstanding, our results show that since microplastic concentrations as currently observed in the environment are very low, they are only a relevant sorbent for strongly hydrophobic but not for polar compounds.