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Identification of polystyrene microplastics in the presence of algae Chlorella sp. by means of SIMS and XPS spectroscopy

2025

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Researchers demonstrated the use of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for identifying polystyrene microplastics in the presence of Chlorella sp. algae, addressing the challenge of distinguishing synthetic polymers from organic material in environmentally realistic conditions.

Polymers

Presence of microplastics is responsible for a large part of today’s environmental pollution. At the same time, identification of the MPs in the real environmental conditions (such as presence of organic material, namely algae, in water) is still highly challenging. In this contribution, we demonstrate the application of ToF SIMS and XPS spectroscopy methods for evaluation of the presence of polystyrene microplastics in the absence and in the presence of algae Chlorella sp.

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