Data for: Assessment of cryogenic pretreatment for simulating environmental weathering in the formation of surrogate micro- and nanoplastics from agricultural mulch film

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) from mulch films and other plastic materials employed in vegetable and small fruit production pose a major threat to agricultural ecosystems. For conducting controlled studies on MPs' and NPs' (MNPs') ecotoxicity to soil organisms and plants and fate and transport in soil, surrogate MNPs arerequired that mimic MNPs that form in agricultural fields. We have developed a procedure to prepare MPs from plastic films or pellets using mechanical milling and sieving, and conversion of the resultant MPs into NPs through wet grinding, both steps of which mimic the degradation and fragmentation of plastics in nature. The major goal of this study was to determine if cryogenic exposure of two biodegradable mulch films effectively mimics the embrittlement caused by environmental weathering in terms of the dimensional, thermal, chemical, and biodegradability properties of the formed MNPs. We found differences in size, surface charge, thermal and chemical prop..., The dataset was collected using scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, thermogravimetric analysis, and the ASTM D5988 standardized test for measuring the biodegradability of plastics under ambient soil conditions. JMP software was used to prepare ta model curve fit to the size distribution data for nanoplastics. Data have not been processed beyond what was provided by the instrumenton, except for the size of microplastics, which was determined from electron micrographs using ImageJ software., Only Microsoft Excel is required for opening the data files.

微塑料（Microplastics, MPs）与纳米塑料（Nanoplastics, NPs）广泛存在于蔬菜与小浆果生产所用的地膜及其他塑料材料中，对农业生态系统构成重大威胁。为开展针对MPs与NPs（合称MNPs）对土壤生物、植物的生态毒性，以及其在土壤中归趋与迁移行为的控制性研究，亟需可模拟农田天然形成的MNPs的替代MNPs。本研究开发了一套制备工艺：先通过机械粉碎与筛分步骤从塑料薄膜或颗粒原料中制备微塑料，再通过湿磨工艺将所得微塑料转化为纳米塑料，上述两步均可模拟自然界中塑料的降解与碎裂过程。本研究的核心目标为：针对所生成MNPs的尺寸、热学、化学及生物降解性能，探究两种可降解地膜的低温处理是否能够有效模拟自然环境风化引发的脆化效应。研究发现，样本在尺寸、表面电荷、热学与化学性能……方面存在差异。本数据集通过扫描电子显微镜（scanning electron microscopy）、动态光散射（dynamic light scattering）、热重分析（thermogravimetric analysis），以及用于测定塑料在原位土壤环境下生物降解性的ASTM D5988标准测试方法采集得到。采用JMP软件对纳米塑料的粒径分布数据进行模型曲线拟合。除通过ImageJ软件分析电子显微图像得到微塑料尺寸数据外，其余数据均未超出仪器原生输出范围进行额外处理。仅需使用Microsoft Excel即可打开本数据集的相关文件。