Fig. 4: Continued Degradation of NPL Particles.
From: Mechanism of quiescent nanoplastic formation from semicrystalline polymers
A TGA scans of a PET NPL sample obtained after 7 days of film hydrolysis at 110 °C. After film removal we aged the samples for a further 12 and 19 days, respectively. The TGA experiments were conducted under nitrogen at a ramp rate of 30 °C/min. B ATR-FTIR of the carbonyl region for two of the three PET samples in A. C Image and D corresponding electron diffraction of PET NPL remaining after complete glycolysis of PET bottles. E, F Size distributions from SEM of NPL after 2 days of degradation (with the bulk film present, blue), and the same sample solution after 2 additional days of degradation with no bulk sample present (red) for E sPS and F iPP. G, H Count rate measurements from light scattering after bulk films are removed from solutions and NPL continue to degrade for G sPS and aPS and H iPP and aPP. Error bars shown are the standard deviation of the mean.
