Fate of the nanoparticles in environmental cycles

Nanoparticles (NPs) are ubiquitous in everyday life. Due to their physicochemical, bespoken properties, they are currently exploited in a large amount of professional, recreational and daily-care items. Textiles, building materials, sunscreens, household cleaning products, agrochemical-specific biomolecules, tattoo inks are all sources of NPs. Inevitably the extended employment of NPs has an impact on the environment, which depends not only on their properties, but also on the method used for their disposal and on the physical and biochemical characteristics of the disposal location. These parameters eventually determine both the NPs bioaccumulation and their ecotoxicity. In this review, the environmental fate of the most commonly used NPs, i.e., Ag-NPs, ZnO-NPs and TiO2-NPs, are overviewed, taking into account the most up-to-date studies. Furthermore, the issues related to the trophic transfer and to the current nanomaterial regulations are reported.