On the one hand, plastic materials, being lightweight, versatile, durable, formable, corrosion- and flame-resistant, etc., improve the quality of life for millions of people across the globe by making it easier, safer, and more enjoyable. (19,20) In what follows, we will use abbreviations MPs for microplastics, NPLs for nanoplastics (instead of NPs, to avoid the confusion with nanoparticles), and NMPs for both nanoplastics and microplastics, in the case of tiny plastic particles and fibers, are discussed in general. (18−21) Fragments in the size range 1–5 mm can be referred as large microplastics. Currently, plastic particles and fibers smaller as 1 μm and in the size range 1 μm to 1 mm are defined as nanoplastics and microplastics, respectively. An upper size limit of 5 mm for microplastics was proposed by Arthur et al. (16) in 2004 to report on small plastic fragments in marine environment. (1−15) The term microplastics was introduced by Thompson et al. Microplastics and nanoplastics are tiny pieces of synthetic polymers (plastics), found in the environment (including fresh and seawater, sediments, biota, soils, and ambient air) as well as in drinking water and food, and therefore are recognized as emerging particulate anthropogenic pollutants. Finally, an outlook for establishing harmonized and standardized methods to analyze these challenging contaminants is presented, and perspectives within and beyond this research field are discussed. A special attention is paid to the approaches for reliable analysis of nanoplastics. The advantages and limitations of the methods, and their complementarity for the comprehensive characterization of microplastics are discussed. The present article reviews advanced methods for the representative mass-based and particle-based analysis of microplastics, with a focus on the sensitivity and lower-size limit for detection. This highlights the critical importance of appropriate methods for the chemical identification, quantification, and characterization of microplastics and nanoplastics. While the particle concentrations in different media can vary by up to 10 orders of magnitude, analysis of such complex samples may resemble searching for a needle in a haystack.
However, micro- and nanoplastic particles are extremely complex and diverse in terms of their size, shape, density, polymer type, surface properties, etc. To adequately address these issues, reliable information on the ambient concentrations of microplastics and nanoplastics is needed.
These tiny plastic particles are found in the environment all around the globe as well as in drinking water and food, raising concerns about their impacts on the environment and human health. Microplastics and nanoplastics have become emerging particulate anthropogenic pollutants and rapidly turned into a field of growing scientific and public interest.
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