Biodegradable Nanoplastics Detection in Marine Ecosystems Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
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Abstract
This study develops a novel surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method for detecting and characterizing biodegradable nanoplastics in marine environments. We fabricated silver nanoparticle-decorated graphene oxide substrates that enable detection of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) nanoplastics at concentrations as low as 10 ng/L. Field validation in three marine sampling sites confirmed the method's reliability, revealing previously undetected nanoplastic contamination in deep-sea sediments. Our findings challenge the assumption that biodegradable plastics pose minimal environmental risk in marine ecosystems.
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).