Recently, the environmental impacts of microplastics have received extensive attention owing to their accumulation in the environment. However, developing efficient technology for the control and purification of microplastics is still a big challenge. Herein, we investigated the photocatalytic degradation of typical microplastics such as polystyrene (PS) microspheres and polyethylene (PE) over TiO₂ nanoparticle films under UV light irradiation. TiO₂ nanoparticle film made with Triton X-100 showed complete mineralization (98.40%) of 400-nm PS in 12 h, while degradation for varying sizes of PS was also studied. PE degradation experiment presented a high photodegradation rate after 36 h. CO₂ was found as the main end product. The degradation mechanism and intermediates were studied by in situ DRIFTS and HPPI-TOFMS, showing the generation of hydroxyl, carbonyl, and carbon-hydrogen groups during the photodegradation of PS. This study provides a green and cost-efficient strategy for the control of microplastics contamination in the environment.

近来，微塑料由于其在环境中的积累而受到了广泛的关注。然而，开发有效的技术来控制和纯化微塑料仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在本文中，我们研究了典型的微塑料，如聚苯乙烯（PS）微球和聚乙烯（PE）在紫外光照射下在TiO ₂纳米颗粒膜上的光催化降解。用Triton X-100制成的TiO ₂纳米颗粒薄膜在12小时内显示出400 nm PS的完全矿化（98.40％），同时还研究了不同尺寸PS的降解。PE降解实验在36 h后表现出较高的光降解率。一氧化碳₂被发现是主要的最终产品。通过原位DRIFTS和HPPI-TOFMS研究了降解机理和中间体，显示了PS光降解过程中羟基，羰基和碳氢基团的生成。这项研究为控制环境中的微塑料污染提供了一种绿色且具有成本效益的策略。