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The production and characterisation of nanoplastic reference material: optimization and method development
Summary
Researchers optimized non-solvent phase separation methods using xylene, toluene, and phenol as solvents to produce nanoplastic reference materials from polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polystyrene — polymer types more environmentally representative than commonly used commercial polystyrene nanoparticles. They characterized the produced particles by dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy, finding predominantly irregular fragment morphologies that more closely resemble environmentally occurring nanoplastics.
There is a paucity of comparable data on plastic particle pollution in the scientific literature, driven by a lack of standardisation, insufficient quality controls, and inappropriate reference materials. Most studies on nanoplastics have been based on commercially available polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles. However, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are some of the most predominant plastics found in the environment. Therefore, it is important to use these polymer types as reference materials, since the optimal reference material used in environmental monitoring should resemble the plastic particles observed in nature. Here, we optimise non-solvent phase separation methods for producing PE, PP, PET, and PS nanoplastics and describe the characteristics of the produced materials. The following three different solvents were tested for compatibility: xylene, toluene, and phenol. Xylene and toluene were determined to be suitable for PE and PP, whereas, phenol was determined to be the most suitable solvent for PET and PS nanoplastic production. The particles created were characterised using DLS, SEM, FTIR and Raman to determine their size, shape, and chemical composition. A multiplicity of plastic particle morphologies was observed by SEM, but the predominant shape detected were irregular fragments, which represents a more environmentally realistic morphology. The size of the particles was also measured using SEM and demonstrated that the mean size for PP, PE, PET, and PS was 161.1 ± 119.2 nm, 113.6± 109 nm of 168.0 ± 94 nm, and 238.5 ± 107 nm respectively. The particles produced by the proposed method can be used as relevant reference materials and can support standardisation and increase quality control. Moreover, if labelled they have the potential to be use as an internal standard, further contributing to quality control. Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/558892/document