Thermal fragmentation enhanced identification and quantification of polystyrene micro/nanoplastics in complex media

Lin, Yue; Huang, Xiaohong; Liu, Qian; Lin, Zhenyu; Jiang, Guibin

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2019.120478

Cited by 72 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…A challenging aspect of MALDI-MS analysis is the identification and discrimination of plastic fragments in the presence of coincident interferences, e.g., biofilms. Lin et al (2020) recently used MALDI-MS to identify and quantify PS particles ranging from 100 nm to 4 mm. Signals were enhanced by thermal pretreatment, enabling higher quantification accuracy.…”

Section: Mass Spectrometry (Ms)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Analytical Chemistry of Plastic Debris: Sampling, Methods, and Instrumentation

Hale

Seeley

King

et al. 2021

Microplastic in the Environment: Pattern and Process

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Approaches for the collection and analysis of plastic debris in environmental matrices are rapidly evolving. Such plastics span a continuum of sizes, encompassing large (macro-), medium (micro-, typically defined as particles between 1 μm and 5 mm), and smaller (nano-) plastics. All are of environmental relevance. Particle sizes are dynamic. Large plastics may fragment over time, while smaller particles may agglomerate in the field. The diverse morphologies (fragment, fiber, sphere) and chemical compositions of microplastics further complicate their characterization. Fibers are of growing interest and present particular analytical challenges due to their narrow profiles. Compositional classes of emerging concern include tire wear, paint chips, semisynthetics (e.g., rayon), and bioplastics. Plastics commonly contain chemical additives and fillers, which may alter their toxicological potency, behavior (e.g., buoyancy), or detector response (e.g., yield fluorescence) during analysis. Field sampling methods often focus on >20 μm and even >300 μm sized particles and will thus not capture smaller microplastics (which may be most abundant and bioavailable). Analysis of a limited subgroup (selected polymer types, particle sizes, or shapes) of microplastics, while often operationally necessary, can result in an underestimation of actual sample content. These shortcomings complicate calls for toxicological studies of microplastics to be based on “environmentally relevant concentrations.” Sample matrices of interest include water (including wastewater, ice, snow), sediment (soil, dust, wastewater sludge), air, and biota. Properties of the environment, and of the particles themselves, may concentrate plastic debris in select zones (e.g., gyres, shorelines, polar ice, wastewater sludge). Sampling designs should consider such patchy distributions. Episodic releases due to weather and anthropogenic discharges should also be considered. While water grab samples and sieving are commonplace, novel techniques for microplastic isolation, such as continuous flow centrifugation, show promise. The abundance of nonplastic particulates (e.g., clay, detritus, biological material) in samples interferes with microplastic detection and characterization. Their removal is typically accomplished using a combination of gravity separation and oxidative digestion (including strong bases, peroxide, enzymes); unfortunately, aggressive treatments may damage more labile plastics. Microscope-based infrared or Raman detection is often applied to provide polymer chemistry and morphological data for individual microplastic particles. However, the sheer number of particles in many samples presents logistical hurdles. In response, instruments have been developed that employ detector arrays and rapid scanning lasers. The addition of dyes to stain particulates may facilitate spectroscopic detection of some polymer types. Most researchers provide microplastic data in the form of the abundances of polymer types within particle size, polymer, and morphology classes. Polymer mass data in samples remain rare but are essential to elucidating fate. Rather than characterizing individual particles in samples, solvent extraction (following initial sample prep, such as sediment size class sorting), combined with techniques such as thermoanalysis (e.g., pyrolysis), has been used to generate microplastic mass data. However, this may obviate the acquisition of individual particle morphology and compositional information. Alternatively, some techniques (e.g., electron and atomic force microscopy and matrix-assisted laser desorption mass spectrometry) are adept at providing highly detailed data on the size, morphology, composition, and surface chemistry of select particles. Ultimately, the analyst must select the approach best suited for their study goals. Robust quality control elements are also critical to evaluate the accuracy and precision of the sampling and analysis techniques. Further, improved efforts are required to assess and control possible sample contamination due to the ubiquitous distribution of microplastics, especially in indoor environments where samples are processed.

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Section: Mass Spectrometry (Ms)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Analytical Chemistry of Plastic Debris: Sampling, Methods, and Instrumentation

Hale

Seeley

King

et al. 2021

Microplastic in the Environment: Pattern and Process

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“…Lin et al [18] delineated a new technique based on MALDI-TOF and thermal degradation/ fragmentation for the identification and quantification of Micro-and nanoplastics (MNPs).…”

Section: Maldi-tof and Thermal Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Polystyrene (PS) is one amongst the commonly used plastics and its non-biodegradability is proved to be hazardous. [18] applied the new technique to identify and quantify standard PS MNPs, PS MNPs in fish and river water samples. Further, to prove the universality of the method, it was validated with other types of MNPs like Polyethylene glycol terephthalate (PET).…”

Section: Maldi-tof and Thermal Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a consequence of the scanty concentration of MNPs, the sensitivity of the technique needed further enhancement to improve the MS responses of the fingerprint peaks. Lin et al [18] suggests thermal pretreatment to induce pyrolytic fragmentation of PS to produce smaller molecules of styrene and its trimers. This treatment enhanced the peak intensity by 8.8folds in the low mass regions and brought about several changes in the peaks at the high-mass regions.…”

Section: Maldi-tof and Thermal Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methods for the Detection and Quantification of Micro and Nanoplastics- A Review

Priyanka¹,

Pallavi²,

Swathi³

et al. 2021

AJB2T

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Over the past 35 years, synthetic or semi-synthetic polymers called “plastics” have been widely used across multiple fields due to their low cost, versatility, durability. Plastics have proved to be a boon to mankind. However, overuse of non- biodegradable plastics comes with its own downsides. Despite constant efforts to reuse and recycle plastics, these polymers substantially contribute towards the accumulation of debris hazardous to the environment. Plastic materials are slowly broken into fragments of micro- and nano plastics due to aging and weathering. Micro- and nano plastics were found capable of entering the food chain and hence are viewed as threats. This review paper revolves around methods used for the detection and quantification of micro- and nano plastics. Detection of micro- and nano plastics using methods like Raman spectroscopy, Infrared Spectroscopy, SERS, MALDI-TOF, and machine learning approaches are discussed here. The research efforts carried out in this article aims to further facilitate the R&D initiatives of Jozbiz Technologies.

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“…To date, no application of laser Py-GC/MS has been recorded for the characterization of microplastics, the use of laser having only been described in the context of the analysis of PS by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) (Schirinzi et al 2019;Lin et al 2020). Haken (1999) presents two key parameters to be addressed to perform reproducible analysis with pyrolysis coupled to gas chromatography when studying tiny particle with a mass below 1 mg, which is the case for almost a majority of MP.…”

Section: Laser Pyrolysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics Detection Using Pyrolysis-GC/MS-Based Methods

Dehaut

Hermabessière

Duflos

2020

Handbook of Microplastics in the Environment

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By now the polymeric nature of microparticles has to be demonstrated before their classification as microplastics. Pyrolysis coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) has been used for years to characterize polymers. Thanks to three distinct steps, destructuring, separation, and identification, this chapter explains how this technique allows the analyst to ascertain the polymeric

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Thermal fragmentation enhanced identification and quantification of polystyrene micro/nanoplastics in complex media

Cited by 72 publications

References 35 publications

Analytical Chemistry of Plastic Debris: Sampling, Methods, and Instrumentation

Analytical Chemistry of Plastic Debris: Sampling, Methods, and Instrumentation

Methods for the Detection and Quantification of Micro and Nanoplastics- A Review

Microplastics Detection Using Pyrolysis-GC/MS-Based Methods

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