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Microplastics
Summary
This review paper looks at how scientists detect and identify microplastics (tiny plastic pieces smaller than 5mm) in water, soil, and living organisms, breaking down the tools and techniques researchers use to spot them and figure out what they're made of. While this study doesn't test health effects directly, better detection methods are the first step toward understanding how much plastic pollution surrounds us and, eventually, how it might affect our bodies when we eat, drink, or breathe it in.
Microplastics (MPLs) are those plastic pieces below 5 mm including nanoplastics (NPLs). The protocols for collecting and preparing samples differ depending on matrix but also on the scope of the study and the cost. Schirinzi summarizes the main methods according to sample origin (water, sediment, or biota) and these are further developed in this chapter. For the characterization of MPLs in the environment, different physical and chemical methods are commonly used and combined to have the wide spectra of MPLs in one sample. The physical characterization is used to classify MPLs according to their morphology (fragments, fibers, sheets, foam, among others), size, and color. The chemical characterization allows MPLs to be distinguished from other natural materials in the sample. In general, spectroscopic methods are the most used, followed by pyrolysis and/or thermal desorption gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry.