A Review on the Fate of Microplastics: Their Degradation and Advanced Analytical Characterization

Today, the world is struggling with the colossal amount of microplastics (MPs) due to the tremendous increase in the global production. Presence of MPs in the water samples, biological samples, and its potential to carry lethal chemicals raised the interest on better management of MPs. However, an effective degradation methodology is necessary to decrease the prolonged lifetime of such polymeric materials. So far, very limited reports are available on the degradation methods such as photo-oxidation, biodegradation, photo-thermal oxidative process, subsequent mechanisms involved during the degradation of MPs. Many critical challenges pertaining to those are poorly understood. Particularly, the extraction process, reliable methods to degrade MPs and their analytical techniques, level of MPs contamination in commercially caught fishes and the population at large. Here, we have revisited shortly on current MPs extraction process, various degradation methods using catalyst with their respective mechanisms. Also, the role of most common analytical methods/tools, to identify, analyse the degraded product from MPs, both environment samples and experimental samples, were elaborated. Finally, the solutions to overcome the problems were identified. Graphical Abstract