ArticleAnalytical chemistry2025
Integrating AF4 and Py-GC-MS for Combined Size-Resolved Polymer-Compositional Analysis of Nanoplastics with Application to Wastewater.
Article in Analytical chemistry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- From Aquatic Pollution to Drinking-Water Exposure: Analytical Challenges in Detecting Nanoplastics in Drinking Water-A PRISMA-Guided Review.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Molecular Fingerprinting for Source Attribution of Nanoplastics in Drinking-Water Systems.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Optical, Chemical, and Biological Detection Methods of Microplastics and Nanoplastics.ACS measurement science au · 2026Review
- Micro and nanoplastics in dentistry: emerging sources, health implications, and mitigation pathways: a narrative review.The Saudi dental journal · 2026Review
- Online Coupling of Field-Flow Fractionation with Raman Microspectroscopy Enables the Advanced Study of Nanoplastics Directly in Food.Analytical chemistry · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although nanoplastics are a widespread pollutant, their characterization and quantification in environmental samples remains challenging with no standard approach currently available. Here, we describe a novel workflow for nanoplastic analysis in environmental water samples, incorporating asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation with multiangle light scattering (AF4-MALS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) in an offline combination. The techniques complement each other as AF4-MALS enables sample cleanup and size separation down to about 1 nm, while Py-GC-MS identifies and quantifies polymers in each size fraction. Such a setup may provide comprehensive information about nanoplastic size distributions and polymer composition within a single workflow. After careful validation using standard polymer particles, we applied the method to wastewater samples. Our results show that the offline AF4-MALS-Py-GC-MS combination can identify certain nanoplastics in a complex environmental matrix. The mass quantification limits depend on the polymer type and range from 0.64 ng for PS to 180 ng for polyolefins. With our workflow, 8.8 ± 1.8 ng/mL polystyrene nanoplastics were quantified and polyvinyl chloride was potentially identified in untreated wastewater. Polyolefin and poly(ethylene terephthalate) signals were below detection limits. While still in its early stages, this novel approach provides a promising foundation for particulate polymer analysis and highlights areas for further refinement, with the low recovery and potential of matrix interferences as drawbacks.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.