A novel and simple method for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nanoparticle production

Common plastics, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), as pollutants in aquatic environments in the form of micro/nanoparticles are of environmental and public health concern. Information on the impact of plastic nanoparticles on the environment and on public health is still scarce, thus an important research effort is needed. The lack of enough amounts of nanoparticles to perform these research studies is limiting the understanding of the effects of nanoplastics on the environment and public health. Here, a simple, fast and efficient method to produce PET nanoparticles to be used as nanoplastic models is described. Fine chips of PET were dissolved in a concentrated trifluoroacetic acid solution and reprecipitated as nanoparticles (50-200 nm) by the addition of aqueous solutions of the same solvent. The importance of this method for the production of PET nanoparticles is highly relevant since it could facilitate the PET nanoparticle availability to perform such imperative toxicological studies. The obtained nanosized particles were characterized and their effective ability for cell internalization in human macrophage cells was evaluated.