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Inorganic Additives Induce More Small-Sized Microplastics Releasing from Medical Face Masks

Environmental Science & Technology 2025 2 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 48 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Lifang Xie, Lifang Xie, Lifang Xie, Lifang Xie, Licheng Wang, Licheng Wang, Tingting Huang, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Lifang Xie, Yangyang Liu, Tao Wang, Lifang Xie, Lifang Xie, Yangyang Liu, Tingting Huang, Yangyang Liu, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Licheng Wang, Yangyang Liu, Qiuyue Ge, Liwu Zhang Liwu Zhang Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Yangyang Liu, Yumo Li, Qiuyue Ge, Yumo Li, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Wei Wang, Tingting Huang, Yangyang Liu, Qiuyue Ge, Qiuyue Ge, Liwu Zhang Muhammad Ali Tahir, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Lifang Xie, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Qiuyue Ge, Qiuyue Ge, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Xuejun Ruan, Liwu Zhang Wei Wang, Liwu Zhang Wenbo You, Wei Wang, Yangyang Liu, Liwu Zhang Qiuyue Ge, Qiuyue Ge, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Qiuyue Ge, Qiuyue Ge, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Qiuyue Ge, Qiuyue Ge, Yangyang Liu, Wei Wang, Tao Wang, Muhammad Ali Tahir, Yangyang Liu, Yangyang Liu, Qiuyue Ge, Qiuyue Ge, Wei Wang, Xuejun Ruan, Qiuyue Ge, Wei Wang, Wenbo You, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Liwu Zhang Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Xuejun Ruan, Qiuyue Ge, Qiuyue Ge, Yangyang Liu, Muhammad Ali Tahir, Wei Wang, Liwu Zhang Qiuyue Ge, Wenbo You, Wei Wang, Liwu Zhang Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Liwu Zhang Wei Wang, Yangyang Liu, Liwu Zhang Yangyang Liu, Wei Wang, Lifang Xie, Liwu Zhang Liwu Zhang Tao Wang, Liwu Zhang Longqian Wang, Wei Wang, Lifang Xie, Longqian Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Wei Wang, Xuejun Ruan, Wei Wang, Minbiao Ji, Xuejun Ruan, Minbiao Ji, Liwu Zhang Liwu Zhang Wenbo You, Minbiao Ji, Licheng Wang, Liwu Zhang Liwu Zhang Minbiao Ji, Liwu Zhang

Summary

Researchers found that inorganic additives commonly found in medical-grade plastics accelerate the generation of small-sized microplastic particles during mechanical degradation, raising concerns that medical devices may release more and smaller plastic fragments than previously appreciated.

Although previous studies have extensively explored the release of microplastics from masks, the specific influence of inorganic additives on microplastic emissions has remained unidentified. Herein, we performed a comparative analysis of medical face masks (MFMs) with calcium carbonate (CaCO<sub>3</sub>) additives against those devoid of CaCO<sub>3</sub> to understand their roles in microplastic release. Briefly, our investigation employed surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to examine micro- and nanoplastic release, while the stereoscopic characterization of mixing states of additives in microplastic was accomplished through a simulated Raman scattering (SRS). We also pioneered a three-dimensional imaging (3D imaging) method for investigating the internal aging of plastic using SRS, which clearly revealed the link between inorganic additives inside polymers and photoaging. We found that inorganic additives substantially accelerate the photoaging of the plastic materials through multiple pathways and induce more small-sized microplastics. Follow-up radical quenching experiments confirmed carbonate radicals as the main cause of this phenomenon. Our research exposes the hazardous potential of inorganic additives in masks to amplify the emission of microplastics.

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