TY - JOUR A1 - Fahmy, A. A1 - Anis, B. A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Graphene Oxide/Polyvinyl Alcohol–Formaldehyde Composite Loaded by Pb Ions: Structure and Electrochemical Performance N2 - An immobilization of graphene oxide (GO) into a matrix of polyvinyl formaldehyde (PVF) foam as an eco-friendly, low cost, superior, and easily recovered sorbent of Pb ions from an aqueous solution is described. The relationships between the structure and electrochemical properties of PVF/GO composite with implanted Pb ions are discussed for the first time. The number of alcohol groups decreased by 41% and 63% for PVF/GO and the PVF/GO/Pb composite, respectively, compared to pure PVF. This means that chemical bonds are formed between the Pb ions and the PVF/GO composite based on the OH groups. This bond formation causes an increase in the Tg values attributed to the formation of a strong surface complexation between adjacent layers of PVF/GO composite. The conductivity increases by about 2.8 orders of magnitude compared to the values of the PVF/GO/Pb composite compared to the PVF. This means the presence of Pb ions is the main factor for enhancing the conductivity where the conduction mechanism is changed from ionic for PVF to electronic conduction for PVF/GO and PVF/GO/Pb. KW - Graphene oxide KW - Polyvinyl formaldehyde KW - Lead ions KW - Conductivity PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-549588 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112303 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 14 IS - 11 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-54958 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Goedecke, Caroline A1 - Bannick, C.-G. A1 - Abusafia, A. A1 - Scheid, C. A1 - Steinmetz, H. A1 - Paul, Andrea A1 - Beleites, C. A1 - Braun, U. T1 - Identification of microplastic pathways within a typical European urban wastewater system N2 - In recent years, thermoextraction/desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) has been developed as a rapid detection method for the determination of microplastics (MP) mass contents in numerous environmentally relevant matrices and, in particular, for the measurement of polymers in water samples without time-consuming sample preparation. The TED-GC/MS method was applied to investigate a typical European municipal wastewater system for possible MP masses. Such investigations are important in view of the recent revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. Four different representative sampling sites were selected: greywater (domestic wastewater without toilet), combined sewer, and influent and effluent of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). All samples were collected by fractional filtration. Filtration was carried out over mesh sizes of 500, 100, 50, and in some cases, 5 µm. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) were detected in all samples, with the PE fraction dominating in all cases. Styrene-butadiene rubber which serves as an indication of tire abrasion, was only found in the influent of the WWTP. The highest MP mass contents were found in the combined sewer, so MP can become a source of pollution during heavy rain events when the capacity limits of the effluent are reached, and the polluted effluent is released uncontrolled into the environment. Based on the studies, MP retention from the WWTP could be estimated to be approximately 96%. Few trends in polymer type or mass contents were detected within the different fractions of the samples or when comparing samples to each other. KW - Microplastics KW - Microplastic analysis KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Microplastic pathways KW - Mass contents PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-568289 DO - https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1002/appl.202200078 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-56828 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oksal-Kilinc, Sefine A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Seiwert, Bettina A1 - Reemtsma, Thorsten A1 - Ruess, Liliane T1 - Grinding method and oxidative aging modulate the impact of tire wear microplastics on the reproduction of the nematode C. elegans N2 - Rationale Tire abrasion is one of the largest sources of microplastic in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Despite this fact, research on tire wear microplastic (TWP) and its effects on soil ecosystems is scarce, especially regarding natural weathering processes. This leaves a large knowledge gap on the interactions of TWP with soil biota. Methodology Cryo-milled tire tread (CMTT) and diamond-ground tire tread (DGTT) were artificially weathered through dry ozone treatment and heat exposure. Particles were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy, particle size distribution, and shape characterization. TWP leachate composition was examined using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. The impact on the reproduction of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a widely used toxicological model, was tested for leachate concentration, exposure duration and TWP aging status, using offspring per adult as the endpoint. Results The comminution method significantly influenced TWP particle size distribution, with diamond grinding yielding smaller particles and a more structured surface morphology than cryo-milling. Aging with ozone (180 min) and heat (20 min at 100 °C) reduced DGTT particle sizes by 27-58%, but not in CMTT. Additionally, aging increased carboxylic functional groups and led to a brittle structure in both TWP types. Leachate composition varied with comminution method and aging. Benzothiazole, N-Cyclo-N-phenylurea, and aniline were more abundant in pristine and aged CMTT and aged DGTT. Diphenylguanidine had the highest concentration in all leachates. Aged TWP leachates, regardless of comminution, had significant toxic effects on C. elegans. Leachate from pristine CMTT was more toxic than from pristine DGTT. Nematode offspring correlated negatively with ozone exposure duration in aged DGTT. Tests with aged CMTT leachate showed even short-term exposure reduced offspring numbers. Discussion The results underscore the importance of oxidative and mechanical weathering in TWP toxicity and challenge the use of pristine particles in toxicological assays for risk assessment in the natural environment. KW - Microplastics KW - Tire abrasion KW - Environment PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654672 DO - https://doi.org/10.1071/EN25051 SN - 1448-2517 VL - 23 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - CSIRO Publishing AN - OPUS4-65467 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - THES A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Abscheidung ultradünner funktionalgruppentragender Polymerschichten auf Metalloberflächen mittels Elektrospray Ionisation N2 - Funktionalisierte Oberflächen sind in vielen Bereichen, z. B. als Haftvermittler in Polymerkompositen, für katalytische Anwendungen oder als Sensoren von Interesse. Für viele solcher Anwendungen ist es ausreichend, den verwendeten Werkstoff mit einem ultradünnen Polymerfilm zu überziehen. Dazu gibt es bislang einige Verfahren, wie z. B. Chemical Vapour Deposition, Layer-by-Layer-Technik, Langmuir-Blodgett-Technik oder Spin-Coating, die alle bestimmte Nachteile haben. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden wenige Nanometer dicke Polymerschichten auf metallischen und nicht-metallischen Substraten mittels Elektrospray Ionisation abgeschieden. So wurden typischerweise etwa 10 nm dicke Schichten von Polyacrylsäure (PAA) hergestellt. Die analytische Charakterisierung der produzierten Schichten erfolgte mit der Röntgen-Photoelektronenspektroskopie. Die Atomkraft- bzw. Rasterelektronenmikroskopie gaben Auskunft über den Bedeckungsgrad und die Schichtmorphologie. Die Infrarot-Reflexions-Absorptions-Spektroskopie wurde zur Bestimmung des Restlösemittelgehaltes verwendet. Zur Optimierung der Schichtabscheidung und -struktur wurden verschiedene Parameter variiert, wie z. B. der Kapillaren-Proben-Abstand, die Beschichtungszeit oder die Beschichtungstemperatur, wobei sich herausstellte, dass die Schichtbildungsparameter für jedes Polymer individuell angepasst werden müssen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass Beschichtungen, bei denen sich das Substrat senkrecht zur Kapillare befindet, bei Raumtemperatur mit einem Kapillaren-Proben-Abstand von mindestens 100 mm zu lösemittelfreien PAA-Schichten führen. Dabei war die Ausbildung der Filmtopographie unabhängig sowohl von der Konzentration der Lösung als auch von der Oberflächenenergie des Substrates. N2 - Functionalized surfaces are of interest in plenty of technical fields, e.g. used as adhesion promoter for polymer composites, in catalytic applications or as sensors. For lots of these applications it is sufficient to cover the used materials with an ultra thin polymer film. All existing methods, e. g. chemical vapour pressure, layer-by-layer-technique, Langmuir-Blodgett technique or spin coating have disadvantages. The following work presents the deposition of few nanometer scale polymer layers on metallic and non-metal substrates by electrospray ionization. Most experiments were performed with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). Layers of about 10 nm were deposited. The coverage and the morphology of the produced layers were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The residual amount of solvent within the deposited layers was identified by infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy. Optimisation of the layer deposition was performed by varying the process parameters, e. g. distance to the sample, deposition time or deposition temperature. Based on the knowledge acquired in the experiments it was realized that the deposition parameters have to be found individually for each single polymer. It could be shown that depositions at room temperature with capillary-sample-distances higher than 100 mm, where the sample is placed vertical to the capillary, produce solvent free PAA layers. The film topography was independent of the concentration of the polymer solution and of the substrate surface energy. T3 - BAM Dissertationsreihe - 137 KW - Kapillaren-Proben-Abstand KW - Elektrospray Ionisation KW - Elektrospray Abscheidung KW - Ultradünne Schichtabscheidung KW - Polyacrylsäure KW - deposition KW - surface functionalization KW - electrospray ionisation PY - 2015 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-5142 VL - 137 SP - 1 EP - 132 PB - Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-514 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Benismail, Nizar A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Project 2: Interlaboratory Comparison on detection and quantitative assessment of microplastics by use of spectroscopic and thermo-analytical methods N2 - Validated and standardized methods in microplastic analysis are indispensable for robust monitoring and regulation. Alongside also reference materials are urgently needed. An interlaboratory comparison (ILC) offers a powerful tool to address both these challenges. The present study aimed to compare the precision and accuracy of various methods for the detection and quantification of microplastic in a water-soluble matrix. Additionally, it evaluated the suitability of the test materials (containing environmentally relevant plastic polymers) to serve as reference materials for the microplastic analysis. In this ILC several most used thermo-analytical and spectroscopic methods have been addressed: Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), Thermal Extraction-Desorption Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (TED-GC/MS), micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (µ-FTIR), and micro-Raman Spectroscopy and Laser Direct Infrared Spectroscopy (LDIR). Microplastic powders of polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were used to assess suitability of the test materials (microplastic tablets) for method validation and use in the ILCs. The participants were guided with a SOP how to dissolve the test samples and, depending on their selected method, either quantify the number of particles (by the spectroscopic methods) or determine the mass fraction of microplastic particles per sample (by the thermo-analytical methods). KW - ILC KW - Microplastic KW - FTIR KW - Raman KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Py-GC/MS PY - 2024 SP - 1 EP - 16 AN - OPUS4-60612 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Freshwater compartments: Screening method for polymer identification and mass contents of microplastic particles using TED-GC-MS N2 - The pathways of plastics, especially of microplastic (MP), in environmental compartments, particularly in aquatic systems, are not well understood. The critical point is the lack of fast, harmonised methods for sampling, sample preparation and sample analysis. These three analytical steps are dependent on one another and must be optimised. In recent years, we developed a method for representative sampling and fast detection of MP in aqueous systems. The sampling in different freshwater bodies is performed in the field with a fractionated filtration system using mesh sizes of 500, 100 and 50 µm. For water with an intermediate or high content of suspended particular matter a minimum of 1000 L has to be filtered. In the lab, mesh sizes of 10 and 5 µm are used for further filtration. Subsequently, the water filtrates of the different particle size classes are sterilised, dried, weighed and homogenised, if necessary. Conventional methods for MP analysis are infrared and raman spectroscopy, giving information on the shapes and numbers of individually identified MP particles. Our focus is on the determination of mass contents of various polymers potentially contained in environmental samples. For qualitative and quantitative MP detection TED-GC-MS is used, a two-step method based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with previous thermal extraction. This method not only enables us to screen the samples for characteristic marker-molecules, thus identifying single polymers, but furthermore allows the calculation of mass contents of individual polymers. In the present work, different freshwater compartments were exemplarily studied to identify containing polymers and calculate their mass content in MP particles. T2 - MICRO2018 CY - Lanzarote, Spain DA - 19.11.2018 KW - Microplastic KW - TED-GC-MS KW - Mass contents PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46739 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Braun, U. T1 - Monitoring von Mikroplastik N2 - Der Vortrag gibt einen Überblick was bei der Analyse von Mikroplastik zu beachten ist und beschreibt die Vor- und Nachteile der TED-GC/MS. T2 - Abschlusstreffen MikroPlaTas CY - Online meeting DA - 23.06.2021 KW - Mikroplastik KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Mikroplastik-Analytik PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-52916 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Portela, Raquel A1 - Barbero, Francesco A1 - Breuninger, Esther A1 - Camassa, Laura Maria Azzurra A1 - Velickovic, Tanja Cirkovic A1 - Charitidis, Costas A1 - Costa, Anna A1 - Fadda, Marta A1 - Fengler, Petra A1 - Fenoglio, Ivana A1 - Giovannozzi, Andrea M. A1 - Haugen, Øyvind Pernell A1 - Kainourgios, Panagiotis A1 - von der Kammer, Frank A1 - Kirchner, Markus J. A1 - Lomax-Vogt, Madeleine A1 - Lujic, Tamara A1 - Milczewski, Frank A1 - Moussawi, Mhamad Aly A1 - Ortelli, Simona A1 - Parac-Vogt, Tatjana N. A1 - Potthoff, Annegret A1 - Reinosa, Julian J. A1 - Röschter, Sophie A1 - Sacco, Alessio A1 - Wimmer, Lukas A1 - Zanoni, Ilaria A1 - Dailey, Lea Ann T1 - Characterizing nanoplastic suspensions of increasing complexity: Inter-laboratory comparison of size measurements using dynamic light scattering N2 - Understanding the potential human health risks associated with micro- and nanoplastic exposure is currently a priority research area. Nanoplastic toxicity studies are complicated by the lack of available, well-characterized test and reference materials. Further, many nanoplastic test materials are inherently more polydisperse and heterogenous in shape compared to polystyrene beads, making accurate and representative size distribution measurements particularly challenging. The aim of this study was to conduct an inter-laboratory comparison of dynamic light scattering measurements, the most commonly used particle sizing method for nanomaterials. Using a published standard operating procedure, size measurements in water and a standardized cell culture medium (CCM) were generated for spherical, carboxy-functionalized polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-COOH; 50 nm; benchmark material), and for increasingly complex in-house produced spherical poly(ethylene terephthalate) (nanoPET) and irregular shaped polypropylene (nanoPP) test materials. The weighted mean of hydrodynamic diameters of PS-COOH dispersed in water (55 ± 5 nm) showed moderate variation between labs (coefficient of variation, CV = 8.2%) and were similar to literature reports. Measurements of nanoPET (82 ± 6 nm) and nanoPP (182 ± 12 nm) in water exhibited similar CV values (nanoPET: 7.3% and nanoPP; 6.8%). Dispersion of PS-COOH and nanoPET in CCM increased the CV to 15.1 and 14.2%, respectively, which is lower than literature reports (CV = 30%). We conclude with a series of practical recommendations for robust size measurements of nanoplastics in both water and complex media highlighting that strict adherence to a standard operating procedure is required to prevent particle agglomeration in CCM KW - Nanoplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Polypropylene PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-644571 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5en00645g SN - 2051-8153 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-64457 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Alasonati, E A1 - Bartczak, D A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Giovannozzi, A T1 - Towards Standardised Micro and Nanoplastics Analysis via Interlaboratory Comparisons: First Outlook of the VAMAS TWA 45 P3 Project N2 - This talk is part of the stakeholder workshop of the PlasticTrace project held in September 2025 in Oslo. The presentation shows first results of the VAMAS ILC on nanoplastics. PP nanoparticles were given to the participants. These were asked to measure the mass or particle number or size of the PP nanoplastics. Various techniques such as DLS, FFF, Py-GC/MS, TED-GC/MS, PTA were used. T2 - Stakeholder Workshop PlasticsTrace CY - Online meeting DA - 09.09.2025 KW - Nanoplastics KW - ILC KW - DLS KW - Polypropylene PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64714 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Wessen Problem ist Mikroplastik eigentlich? N2 - In den letzten 20 Jahren ist die Aufmerksamkeit vieler Forschender sowie der Politik und der Bürger selbst auf ein wachsendes Kunststoffproblem unserer Zeit stark gestiegen. Mangelnde Wertstoffkonzepte, Sammelstellen und unbedachtes Einbringen von Kunststoffprodukten in die Umwelt führen dort zu einer Anreicherung. Durch äußere Witterungseinflüsse können diese Produkte degradieren und fraktionieren, so dass heute in allen Teilen der Welt Mikroplastik (1-1000 µm, ISO/TR 21960:2020) unterschiedlicher Polymermaterialien nachgewiesen werden kann. Bei Mikroplastik gilt das Vorsorgeprinzip. Die Partikel können weiter zerfallen in Nanoplastik (< 1 µm, ISO/TR 21960:2020). Ob eine toxikologische Gefährdung von Mikro- oder Nanoplastik ausgeht, wird vielfältig untersucht. Bisher stehen valide Ergebnisse aus. Untersuchungen zur Häufigkeit, dem Transport und möglicher Senken und Eintragspfade muss aber Rechenschafft getragen werden, so dass ein Monitoring von Mikroplastik bereits in der Revision der Trinkwasserrahmen-Richtlinie und der Abwasserrahmen-Richtlinie gefordert wird. Bedenklich ist auch die Verordnung über Mindestanforderungen an die Wasserwiederverwendung (2020/741), in welcher nicht verbindlich gesagt wird, Wasser welcher Reinigungsstufe eines Klärwerks auf die Felder zur Wiederverwendung aufgebracht werden darf. Einer Regulierung über die EU-Plastikstrategie hinaus mit z.B. Verboten für Einwegplastik-Produkte und Rezyklingquoten kann nur entgegengewirkt werden, wenn valide Messmethoden, Referenzmaterialien und Standards existieren, die das tatsächliche Ausmaß von Mikroplastik-Konzentrationen in Luft, Wasser, Boden und Biota zuverlässig und genau aufzeigen. T2 - Technomer CY - Chemnitz, Germany DA - 06.11.2025 KW - Mikroplastik KW - Referenzmaterial KW - TED-GC/MS PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64618 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Haugen, Øyvind P. A1 - Polanco-Garriz, Itziar A1 - Alcolea-Rodriguez, Victor A1 - Portela, Raquel A1 - Bæra, Rita A1 - Sadeghiankaffash, Hamed A1 - Hildebrandt, Jana A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Barbero, Francesco A1 - Fenoglio, Ivana A1 - Reinosa, Julián J. A1 - Fernández, José F. A1 - Katsumiti, Alberto A1 - Camassa, Laura M.A. A1 - Wallin, Håkan A1 - Zienolddiny-Narui, Shan A1 - Afanou, Anani K. T1 - Activation of Toll-like receptor 2 reveals microbial contamination beyond endotoxins on micro- and nanoplastics N2 - Current literature on health hazards associated with micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) is largely influenced by studies that insufficiently account for potential microbial contamination of their test materials. This may lead to misinterpretation of outcomes, as the test materials may be incorrectly considered pristine MNPs. The present study screened eight MNP test materials for microbial contaminants using Toll-like receptor (TLR) reporter cells for TLR2 and TLR4 and the commonly used Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay. Our results show that MNPs testing negative for endotoxins, based on the absence of TLR4 activation and negative LAL results, may still contain microbial ligands that selectively activate TLR2. Moreover, five of the eight MNP test materials contained microbial ligands capable of activating TLR2 and/or TLR4. Compared to the LAL assay, TLR4-based screening effectively detected endotoxin contamination. Overall, we found that the TLR reporter cell assay provides broader coverage than the LAL assay in detecting microbial ligands, which appear to be highly prevalent in MNP test materials. KW - Nanoplastics KW - Microplastics KW - Microbial contamination PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653286 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tiv.2025.106190 SN - 0887-2333 VL - 112 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65328 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -