New Analytical Approaches for Effective Quantification and Identification of Nanoplastics in Environmental Samples

Abstract

Nanoplastics (NPs) are a rapidly developing subject that is relevant in environmental and food research, as well as in human toxicity, among other fields. NPs have recently been recognized as one of the least studied types of marine litter, but potentially one of the most hazardous. Several studies are now being reported on NPs in the environment including surface water and coast, snow, soil and in personal care products. However, the extent of contamination remains largely unknown due to fundamental challenges associated with isolation and analysis, and therefore, a methodological gap exists. This article summarizes the progress in environmental NPs analysis and makes a critical assessment of whether methods from nanoparticles analysis could be adopted to bridge the methodological gap. This review discussed the sample preparation and preconcentration protocol for NPs analysis and also examines the most appropriate approaches available at the moment, ranging from physical to chemical. This study also discusses the difficulties associated with improving existing methods and developing new ones. Although microscopical techniques are one of the most often used ways for imaging and thus quantification, they have the drawback of producing partial findings as they can be easily mixed up as biomolecules. At the moment, the combination of chemical analysis (i.e., spectroscopy) and newly developed alternative methods overcomes this limitation. In general, multiple analytical methods used in combination are likely to be needed to correctly detect and fully quantify NPs in environmental samples.

Ecological and human health risks of atmospheric microplastics (MPs): a review

“…Although physical characterization methods such as infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy are more conducive to identifying common MPs with smaller sizes (down to 50 nm), they cannot identify the color and shape of MPs 47 . A growing body of research focuses on the identification and quantification of NPs in the environment 48,49 . Several mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods have been proposed to quantify and characterize polymers commonly found in MPs and NPs 50 .…”

“…47 A growing body of research focuses on the identification and quantification of NPs in the environment. 48,49 Several mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods have been proposed to quantify and characterize polymers commonly found in MPs and NPs. 50 MS is well suited for the determination of MPs and NPs in air samples with small sample volumes that do not require complex digestion and separation, 51 but the number of polymers that can be determined is still too small.…”

Nanoplastics: Status and Knowledge Gaps in the Finalization of Environmental Risk Assessments

“…Various studies have adopted an approach based on asymmetrical flow-field fractionation (AF4) to separate NPs from spiked biological samples [ 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. AF4 allows the fractionation of nanoparticles based on their hydrodynamic size, which upon combination with detectors, such as diode array detector (DAD) and multiangle light scattering detector (MALS), provides additional information on particle size and concentration [ 31 , 35 ].…”

“…Developing suitable and reliable analytical methods for quantifying the environmental occurrences of NPs is pivotal. As reported by Besseling et al [ 30 ], the detection techniques were not capable of identifying and quantifying NPs in environmental matrices until 2019, and research is rapidly progressing towards the development of novel methodologies suitable for these purposes [ 31 ]. A possible approach for the detection of NP exposure in the environment is the use of biomonitors, which can overcome some analytical limitations in NP extraction due to the potential of these contaminants to bioaccumulate in organisms [ 32 ].…”

Revealing Trace Nanoplastics in Food Packages─An Electrochemical Approach Facilitated by Synergistic Attraction of Electrostatics and Hydrophobicity

“…Furthermore, as nanoparticles are smaller than the wavelength of visible or infrared light, optical diffraction becomes significant, resulting in an Abbe diffraction resolution limit of ∼200 nm for analysis techniques. To overcome the limit, other microscopic techniques and light scattering techniques, e.g., scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), multiangle light scattering (MALS), and single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SP-ICP-MS), have been applied to quantify the size distribution and concentration of nanoplastics. ,, Materić et al developed a method based on thermal desorption–proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry, providing a sensitive quantification of PS nanoplastics down to 10 ng . Hernandez et al applied NTA and SEM to quantify the concentration and size distribution of nanoplastics in teabag leachate, revealing that steeping a single plastic teabag at 95 °C releases approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics .…”