Mass spectrometry detection of environmental microplastics: Advances and challenges

Mass spectrometry has emerged as a vital tool for microplastics (MPs) analysis, offering sensitivity and specificity to identify diverse polymer types. This review explores mass spectrometry's applications, including time-of-flight, orbitrap, quadrupole, and magnetic sector. Time-of-flight provides direct detection with modest sensitivity, while orbitrap excels in low molecular weight MPs analysis (<50000 Da). Quadrupole assesses thermal or depolymerized products, and magnetic sector scrutinizes isotopic ratios for MPs source identification. Sample pretreatment methods for mass spectrometry were summarized; traditional techniques risk MPs loss, while solvent-based methods like accelerated solvent extraction offer effectiveness, influenced by MPs chain structure. A positive correlation between mass spectrometry and spectroscopy results is observed, hindered by MPs' variable shapes and sizes. Mass spectrometry also aids nanoplastics analysis and oligomer detection. In conclusion, this review underscores mass spectrometry's role in microplastics analysis, discussing strengths, limitations, and prospects.