Diversified Analytical Methods Used to Analyze Plastic Biodegradation

Analytical methods for microplastics are essential for understanding and monitoring the degradation processes of these micromaterials, with some techniques even being able to identify them in living organisms. This chapter presents the fundamentals and applications of the main methods for the analysis of microplastics with a focus on degradation processes in environmental samples. Optical, electron, and atomic force microscopy methods are described. Spectrometric, thermal analysis, and chromatographic methods are also described. This wide variety of methods must be used together to obtain an integral qualitative and quantitative characterization. Hybrid techniques are of great interest as they show the best performance. Research on analytical methods for microplastics is still an area of opportunity, as there are still many practical limitations.