On the background of plastics nanoparticles in our research

Abstract

We must recognize that plastics likely constitute a pervasive background in many environments. Beyond their previously documented risks to ecosystems and human health, plastics may also exert unintended influences on laboratory experiments, potentially distorting experimental outcomes. Here, we demonstrate that ultrasound treatment of commonly used laboratory test tubes releases nanoplastics into ultrapure water, reaching concentrations of up to 1-2 × 10¹⁰ particles mL^-1 during water bath sonication, and we hypothesize how such contamination may affect experimental results.

Keywords: nanoparticles; nanoplastics; particle release; plastic background; sonication; test tubes; ultrasound.