ArticleNature communications2024
Weathering influences the ice nucleation activity of microplastics.
Article in Nature communications, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Short-term exposure to ammonium sulfate modifies ice nucleation by alpha-alumina but not organic monolayers or microplastics.Environmental science: atmospheres · 2026Article
- Nanoparticle-Mediated Bubble Suppression During Droplet Solidification for Mechanical Reinforcement.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Rethinking peptide developability with sequence-only models: interpretable screening of microplastic-binding peptides with gated query pooling.Chemical science · 2026Article
- Colonization of Microplastics by Different Strains ofEnvironmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Abundance of microplastics and nanoplastics in urban atmosphere.Science advances · 2026Article
- Water Salinity Impacts Aggregation, Settling, and Deposition of Fluvial Sediment.ACS environmental Au · 2025Article
- Molecular Nanosolids Generation by Vapor Jet Desublimation.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Article
- The effects of sediment properties on the aeolian abrasion and surface characteristics of microplastics.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2025Article
- Colloid and Interface Science for Understanding Microplastics and Developing Remediation Strategies.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Microplastics are being increasingly detected in the atmosphere at altitudes relevant to mixed-phase cloud formation. However, the extent to which microplastics, along with their dynamic surface properties resulting from environmental weathering, could influence atmospheric microphysical processes remains largely unexplored. Here, through a series of ice nucleation experiments and droplet freezing assays, we highlight the capability of model polyethylene microplastics to induce heterogeneous ice nucleation via immersion freezing under atmospherically relevant conditions. We find that sunlight-induced weathering of the microplastic surface influences the structure of surface-bound water molecules and dictates the ice nucleation activity of the microplastics. Using polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate as models, we demonstrate that the ice nucleation ability of microplastics is intrinsically linked to their underlying chemistry. Our findings underscore the need to establish a connection between microplastics and atmospheric processes, as the behavior of microplastic pollutants in the atmosphere holds the potential to influence their environmental transport as well as atmospheric microphysical processes.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.