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Tire wear particles (TWPs), a form of microplastics (MPs) pollution, are transported into waterbodies through stormwater runoff, leading to environmental pollution and impacts on associated biota. Here, we investigated the effectiveness of stormwater filter socks filled with rice husk biochar or pine tree woodchips in reducing TWP pollution in urban runoff in Oxford, Mississippi. Triplicate runoff samples were collected upstream and downstream of the biofilters at two sites during two storm events at peak flow within minutes of the start of the storm and after 30 min. Samples were analyzed for TWPs using a combination of stereomicroscopy, micro-attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (µ-ATR-FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Concentrations (TWPs/L) upstream of the biofilter were variable but highest at the start of the runoff, dropping from an average of 2811 ± 1700 to 476 ± 63 after 30 min at site 1 and from 2702 ± 353 to 2356 ± 884 at site 2. Biochar was more effective than woodchips (p < 0.05) at removing TWPs, reducing concentrations by an average of 97.6% (first use) and 85.3% (second use) compared to 66.2% and 54.2% for woodchips, respectively. Biochar was particularly effective at removing smaller TWPs (<100 µm). Both materials became less effective with use, suggesting fewer available trapping sites and the need for removal and replacement of the material with time. Overall, this study suggests that biochar and woodchips, alone or in combination, deserve further scrutiny as a potential cost-effective and sustainable method to mitigate the transfer of TWPs to aquatic ecosystems and associated biota. 

Molecular dyes containing carbazole-based π bridges and/or julolidine-based donors should be promising molecules for intense SWIR emission with potential application to molecular bioimaging. This study stochastically analyzes the combinations of more than 250 organic dyes constructed within the D-π-D (or equivalently D-B-D) motif. These dyes are built from 22 donors (D) and 14 π bridges (B) and are computationally examined using density functional theory (DFT). The DFT computations provide optimized geometries from which the excited state transition wavelengths and associated oscillator strengths and orbital overlaps are computed. While absorption is used as a stand-in for emission, the longer the absorption wavelength, the longer the emission should be as well for molecules of this type. Nearly 100 novel dyes reported in this work have electronic absorptions at or beyond 1200 nm, opening the possibility for future synthesis and experimental characterization of new molecular dyes with promising properties for bioimaging.