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Rapid, In Situ and Non-Destructive Analysis for the Evaluation of Microplastics Degradation in Water Via Haze Measurement

Greco, Rossella ; Baxauli-Marin, Lucía ; Fernández-Catalá, Javier ; Pankratova, Viktorija ; Bulbucan, Claudiu LU ; Thånell, Karina LU and Cao, Wei (2025) In Chemistry-Methods 5(6).
Abstract

The presence of microplastics (MPs) in water represents a current problem for marine life and a future serious issue for human health. This is pushing towards new approaches for the removal of MPs and, hence, their characterization and evaluation, which up to now has represented a limit for tentative procedures for their degradation. Herein, we reported on a new facile, in situ and non-destructive approach for the qualitative analysis of polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate MPs in water and their evaluation in photocatalytic degradation with the use of Co3O4@Co(OH)2 heterostructures. The use of haze measurements allows to see the changes in light scattering of the MPs aqueous dispersions during the... (More)

The presence of microplastics (MPs) in water represents a current problem for marine life and a future serious issue for human health. This is pushing towards new approaches for the removal of MPs and, hence, their characterization and evaluation, which up to now has represented a limit for tentative procedures for their degradation. Herein, we reported on a new facile, in situ and non-destructive approach for the qualitative analysis of polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate MPs in water and their evaluation in photocatalytic degradation with the use of Co3O4@Co(OH)2 heterostructures. The use of haze measurements allows to see the changes in light scattering of the MPs aqueous dispersions during the photocatalytic degradation and to know in situ the degradation of the MPs in the catalytic process. Significant changes in haze values were found in photocatalysis with Co3O4@Co(OH)2, in contrast to no variations in control test using Co(OH)2 and Co3O4. Synchrotron-radiation based scanning transmission x-ray spectroscopy further denotes strong interactions between the heterostructures with MPs and oxidization of the latter. The possible comparison of different techniques suggests that haze measurements could be a valid and cost-efficient methodology for the future evaluation of photocatalytic degradation of MPs in water.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Haze meter, In situ evaluation, Microplastics, Photocatalytic degradation, STXM
in
Chemistry-Methods
volume
5
issue
6
article number
e202400047
publisher
Wiley-VCH Verlag
external identifiers
  • scopus:105003697200
DOI
10.1002/cmtd.202400047
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
56a99934-8235-4e81-afac-a111084faad8
date added to LUP
2025-07-29 09:25:39
date last changed
2025-07-29 09:26:15
@article{56a99934-8235-4e81-afac-a111084faad8,
  abstract     = {{<p>The presence of microplastics (MPs) in water represents a current problem for marine life and a future serious issue for human health. This is pushing towards new approaches for the removal of MPs and, hence, their characterization and evaluation, which up to now has represented a limit for tentative procedures for their degradation. Herein, we reported on a new facile, in situ and non-destructive approach for the qualitative analysis of polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate MPs in water and their evaluation in photocatalytic degradation with the use of Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>@Co(OH)<sub>2</sub> heterostructures. The use of haze measurements allows to see the changes in light scattering of the MPs aqueous dispersions during the photocatalytic degradation and to know in situ the degradation of the MPs in the catalytic process. Significant changes in haze values were found in photocatalysis with Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>@Co(OH)<sub>2</sub>, in contrast to no variations in control test using Co(OH)<sub>2</sub> and Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>. Synchrotron-radiation based scanning transmission x-ray spectroscopy further denotes strong interactions between the heterostructures with MPs and oxidization of the latter. The possible comparison of different techniques suggests that haze measurements could be a valid and cost-efficient methodology for the future evaluation of photocatalytic degradation of MPs in water.</p>}},
  author       = {{Greco, Rossella and Baxauli-Marin, Lucía and Fernández-Catalá, Javier and Pankratova, Viktorija and Bulbucan, Claudiu and Thånell, Karina and Cao, Wei}},
  keywords     = {{Haze meter; In situ evaluation; Microplastics; Photocatalytic degradation; STXM}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-VCH Verlag}},
  series       = {{Chemistry-Methods}},
  title        = {{Rapid, In Situ and Non-Destructive Analysis for the Evaluation of Microplastics Degradation in Water Via Haze Measurement}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cmtd.202400047}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/cmtd.202400047}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}