Abstract
Nanoplastics (NPs) are considered emerging pollutants, namely unregulated contaminants whose toxic effect on humans and the environment has been demonstrated or suspected. They are the result of the physical fragmentation of the plastics that over time reach smaller dimensions (<100 nm). The issues related to the characterization and quantification of NPs in the environmental matrices are mainly related to the infinitepsimal size, to the fact that they are found in bulk, and to the different physico-chemical forms in which the same polymer can evolve over time by degradation. To deal with the study of a new class of pollutants it is necessary to assess the entire analytical method, carefully considering every single step (sampling, cleanup, qualitative, and quantitative analysis) starting from the validation method in the laboratory. This paper reviews the analytical method steps, focusing on the first ones, which the current literature often underestimates: laboratory tests, sampling, and sample processing; in fact, most errors and the quality of the analyses often depend on them. In addition, all newly introduced sample processing methods were examined.
Highlights
Plastic is widely used because of its low cost, versatility, and durability
Soil samples are mixed with high-density solution, centrifuged and let it to settle until plastic particles float on the surface and the denser soil materials remain on the bottom
The main characteristics and cost-effectiveness of plastics make them irreplaceable materials in our daily life
Summary
Plastic is widely used because of its low cost, versatility, and durability. The global production of plastics has increased significantly, rising from 1.5 million metric tons in 1950 to 359 million metric tons in 2020 [1]. In particular the impact of plastic waste on marine and freshwater habitats appears to be one of the most studied phenomena and the cause of the greatest concerns especially for NPs (see Figure 2 and Supplementary Material Figure S1) Both MPs and NPs can be ingested by a wide range of marine species [18,19]. The MPs and NPs can release those POPs to organisms upon ingestion [31,32,33] and could impact human health, it is important to determine their fate and amount Considering their size and interaction with the biota, NPs can be distinguished from MPs and, in particular, from the engineered nanoparticles [34], an increase of difficulty to analyze NPs in the environmental matrices can be expected. The main purpose of the current review is to report the main key aspects of the most reliable techniques and discuss their advantages and limitations
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