A roadmap for a Plastisphere

Abstract

The constantly growing production of synthetic materials and their presence in the environment gradually transform our Blue Planet into the Plastic One. Microplastics (MPs) enlarge significantly their surface during fragmentation processes. Undoubtedly, nanoplastics (NPs), emerging contaminants, and the Plastisphere, the total available surface of debris, are currently on the edge of science. Although a few research are dedicated to the analysis of MPs and NPs from the physical and chemical point of view, there is a lack of the correlation between the material characterization and the microbiological data. The ecological approach, covering the description of numerical antibiotic or metal resistance bacteria, dealing with toxicological issues or biodegradation, is of great importance. This paper creates the bridge between the material science approach and the eighth continent (as sometimes Plastisphere is called). It points out that the Plastisphere significance will grow within the coming years and it should not be regarded as one ecological niche, but a set of different ones. As the properties mainly depend on the surface morphology, its numerical characterization will be the base for the classification purposes to better describe and model this phenomenon. Apart from concerning the currently important issues of NPs and the Plastisphere, this paper presents the emerging area of research namely the numerical approach to their characterization. This proposal of an interdisciplinary approach to the classification of the Plastisphere's types might be interesting for the members of different scientific communities: nanotechnology, material science and engineering, chemistry, physics, ecology, microbiology, marine microplastics or picture analysis.

Keywords: Biodegradation; Degradation of polymers; Marine microplastics; Nanoplastics; Plastisphere; Quantitative description of surfaces.