Nanoplastics and ultrafine microplastic in the Dutch Wadden Sea – The hidden plastics debris?

Plastic pollution in the marine environment has been identified as a global problem; different polymer types and fragment sizes have been detected across all marine regions, from sea ice to the equator and the surface to the deep sea. However, quantification of marine plastics debris in the size range of nanoplastics (<1 μm) and ultrafine microplastics (<10 μm) is not constrained, because such minuscule particles are challenging to measure. In this work, we applied a novel analytical assay using Thermal Desorption – Proton Transfer Reaction – Mass Spectrometry (TD-PTR-MS), which is suita... Mehr ...