Accelerated weathering affects the chemical and physical properties of marine antifouling paint microplastics and their identification by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy

Microplastics prepared from commercial marine antifouling paints were weathered by UV-C irradiation representing between 25 and 101 days of real-time, outdoor exposure. Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy the degraded paint particles showed that weathering induced chemical changes in material, including release volatile components formation hydrophilic groups. The increased reactivity binder associated with alterations their physical properties leaching metals freshwater conditions. Changes spectra obtained samples reduced match unaged materials, resulting a poorer similarity index, Score when using automatic identification tools for microplastics. results suggest weathered, as well pristine microplastics, should be consulted applying analytical pipelines to identify microplastics extracted natural matrices.