Sorption of Fulvic Acids onto Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Extracted from Commercial Sunscreens: ToF-SIMS and High-Dimensional Data Analysis

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (n-TiO2) are common ingredients of sunscreens and often released into surface waters during usage. Once released, the chemistry n-TiO2 changes by interacting with dissolved organic matter (DOM). In previous studies, these interactions were investigated using model and; therefore, do not account for complex composition coating aged in sunscreens. Taking advantage a mild extraction method to provide more realistic nanoparticles, we potentials time flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) combined high-dimensional data analysis characterize sorption fulvic acids, as DOM, on titanium extracted from ten different commercial (n-TiO2 ? sunscreen). Clustering confirmed ability ToF-SIMS detect acids. Moreover, unique pattern was recognized each sunscreen, which implied fractionation acids based initial specifications e.g., size, coating, etc. Furthermore, random forest used extract most important fragments predicting presence sunscreen. Finally, evaluate potential characterizing layer.