A
ground-breaking method to label and track manufactured nano-plastics could
signal a paradigm shift in how we understand and care for environments, finds a
new study.
Nano-plastics
are particles of at least one dimension below one μm. While there has been
growing awareness of the dangers of visible plastic pollution to marine life,
nano-plastics are thought to be even more dangerous as unseen, smaller animals
and fish can ingest them.
Nano-plastics
are suspected of being released into the environment directly by commercial
products and by the breakdown of larger pieces of plastic litter.
In a study
published by the journal Communications Materials, researchers from the
University of Surrey detail a new one-step polymerization method to label
nano-polystyrene directly on the carbon backbone of plastic. The new simple
method uses14C-styrene and requires minimal reagents and equipment to create
nano-particles in a wide range of sizes for use in simulated lab environments.
The team
has used their new method to produce and investigate the behavior of
nano-plastics at low concentrations in a variety of scenarios—including in
bivalve mollusc.
Dr. Maya
Al Sid Cheikh, co-author of the study and lecturer in analytical chemistry at
the University of Surrey, said: "The truth is that the scientific
community knows little about the effects and behavior of nano-plastics in our
environment because it's extraordinarily difficult to detect, track and measure
such minute particles. Our new, simple method is a step in the right direction
for correcting this knowledge gap as it allows researchers to replicate
scenarios in which commercially produced nano-particles have customarily gone
unnoticed."