Photoinduced Force Microscopy as an Efficient Method Towards the Detection of Nanoplastics
Open accessAbstract
The degradation of plastic waste in aquatic environments, leading to plastic particles at the micro‐ and nanoscale is of growing concern. However, conventional analytical techniques either lack sufficient spatial resolution or the necessary spectroscopic means to investigate individual plastic nanoparticles. Both are however necessary to understand how macro‐ and micro‐sized plastic particles break down into nanometer‐sized particles. Here we show that a hybrid analytical technique, combining the spatial resolution of atomic force microscopy (AFM) with the chemical information from infrared (IR) spectroscopy, meets these requirements. We studied nanometer‐sized particles of polystyrene (PS), a plastic that is extensively used worldwide. We demonstrate that we can detect and quantify these so‐called nanoplastics down to 20 nm in size and discuss their physicochemical properties. We show that in saline aqueous environments, in the absence of light, oxidative degradation and chain scission are the main mechanisms to form and degrade PS micro‐ and nanoplastics.
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- Authors
- C. ten Have, I., Duijndam, A. J. A., Oord, R., van Berlo‐van den Broek, H. J. M., Vollmer, I., Weckhuysen, B. M., & Meirer, F.
- Affiliations
- Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science Utrecht University Universiteitsweg 99 3584 CG Utrecht (The Netherlands
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Weckhuysen, Bert M.
- Meirer, Florian
- Venue
- Chemistry–Methods
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-05
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 205-209
- ISSN
- 2628-9725 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3158297381
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 1.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Chemistry - Methods (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Analytical Chemistry › Analytical chemistry methods development
- Keywords
- nanoplastics, photo-induced force microscopy, polystyrene, plastic degradation, oxidative degradation, chain scission, microplastics, infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, nanoparticle physicochemical properties
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