Mechanism and characterization of microplastic aging process: A review

Highlights

● Methods for estimating the aging of environmental micro-plastics were highlighted.

● Aging pathways & characterization methods of microplastics were related and reviewed.

● Possible approaches to reduce the contamination of microplastics were proposed.

● The prospect and deficiency of degradable plastics were analyzed.

Abstract

With the increasing production of petroleum-based plastics, the problem of environmental pollution caused by plastics has aroused widespread concern. Microplastics, which are formed by the fragmentation of macro plastics, are bio-accumulate easily due to their small size and slow degradation under natural conditions. The aging of plastics is an inevitable process for their degradation and enhancement of adsorption performance toward pollutants due to a series of changes in their physiochemical properties, which significantly increase the toxicity and harm of plastics. Therefore, studies should focus on the aging process of microplastics through reasonable characterization methods to promote the aging process and prevent white pollution. This review summarizes the latest progress in natural aging process and characterization methods to determine the natural aging mechanism of microplastics. In addition, recent advances in the artificial aging of microplastic pollutants are reviewed. The degradation status and by-products of biodegradable plastics in the natural environment and whether they can truly solve the plastic pollution problem have been discussed. Findings from the literature pointed out that the aging process of microplastics lacks professional and exclusive characterization methods, which include qualitative and quantitative analyses. To lessen the toxicity of microplastics in the environment, future research directions have been suggested based on existing problems in the current research. This review could provide a systematic reference for in-depth exploration of the aging mechanism and behavior of microplastics in natural and artificial systems.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Microplastics / Aging / Degradation / Characterization / Mechanism

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Program of Shanghai Outstanding Technology Leaders (China) (No. 20XD1433900), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21906056 and 51778230), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (China) (No. 22ZR1418600).

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