Chemical heterogeneity observed in the development of photo-oxidized PET micro- and nanoparticle weathered controls

Published

February 19, 2025

Author(s)

John Pettibone, Eric S. Windsor, Tae Joon Cho, Thomas Forbes, Ying Tung Kuo, Justin Gorham, Li Piin Sung, Song-Syun Jhang

Abstract

Determining unknown secondary micro and nanoplastic (MNP) composition remains a persistent analytical challenge for field collected samples. The availability of material standards should accelerate method development for improved identification. Here, ultraviolet irradiated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films and particles were used as models for investigating the production of weathered controls. We investigated the weathered products' chemical signatures, their stability during sampling and examination, and reproducible production of the chemical distributions using commonly reported analytical approaches for small plastic particles. We found that both conditions during irradiation and the processing procedure used for MNP production significantly contribute to changes in product distribution and the persistence of the oxidized products within the particles. Measurements were also conducted directly on MNP powders after UV-exposure to minimize any possible perturbations in product distribution from sample handling and processing. Using the model PET system, differences in sensitivity for commonly used techniques and methods were compared and discussion on relative performance for detection sensitivity was provided. Together, these findings revealed unreported pitfalls affecting accurate identification of chemically modified MNP materials.

Citation

Environmental Science: Nano

Issue

12

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EN00841C

Local Download

Keywords

test materials, nanoplastics, microplastics, spectroscopy, chemical identification, mass spectrometry

Citation

Pettibone, J. , Windsor, E. , Cho, T. , Forbes, T. , Kuo, Y. , Gorham, J. , Sung, L. and Jhang, S. (2025), Chemical heterogeneity observed in the development of photo-oxidized PET micro- and nanoparticle weathered controls, Environmental Science: Nano, [online], https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EN00841C, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=958278 (Accessed October 7, 2025)