Preparation of Simulated Naturally-Derived Nanoplastics from Polypropylene-Food Packaging Material as Standard Substance

Abstract Currently, numerous researchers use commercialized nanoplastic particles (NPs) to establish detection method or carry out toxicological researches. However, the significant differences between commercialized NPs and those formed under natural conditions certainly will affect the accuracy of the research on NPs to some extent. In the field of analytical chemistry, the selection criterion of a standard substance is that its physical and chemical properties should be as similar as possible to the target. Therefore, the NPs that are more similar to the naturally-derived NPs were preliminarily prepared under simulated natural conditions in the laboratory, which are more suitable for being used as standard substance. In this study, three kinds of NPs with the particle size range of 50 ~ 100/100 ~ 200/200 ~ 400 nm were prepared by simulating natural conditions and fractional filtration with nanofiltration membrane. The self-made NPs were more similar to the naturally-derived NPs than the commercialized ones. Besides, a method that simulates natural conditions for the preparation of NPs was also developed. The standard substance of NPs and its preparation method are expected to be widely applied to the establishment of detection methods or the toxicological studies of NPs to improve the study accuracy.