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Photocatalytic and Enzymatic Degradation of Microplastics: Current Status, Comparison, and Combination
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This review compares photocatalytic and enzymatic approaches for degrading microplastics, finding that photocatalysis offers high efficiency but risks secondary pollution, while enzymatic degradation is milder but slower, and proposes combined strategies as a promising direction.
Microplastics (MPs), as emerging environmental pollutants, pose a significant global environmental challenge due to their persistence, widespread distribution, and ecological health risks. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the photocatalytic and enzymatic degradation of MPs. The mechanism, treatment efficiency, advantages, and disadvantages of degradation techniques are compared and analyzed, together with their scope of application. Photocatalytic degradation exhibits high efficiency but may generate secondary pollution; enzymatic degradation operates under mild conditions with strong specificity but at a slower rate. Both methods possess distinct advantages and disadvantages in terms of mechanism and applicability. The combined methods exhibit a superior performance compared to standalone techniques by overcoming the inherent limitations of each approach. Prospects for future development trends and challenges in MP treatment technologies are also discussed, together with proposed directions and recommendations for further research.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.