Upscaling sample size for microscopical detection of nanoplastics

11 August 2023, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

The extent of nanoplastic pollution has raised severe environmental and health concerns. While the means for microplastic detection are abundant, improved tools for nanoplastic detection are called-for. State- of-the-art microscopic techniques can detect nanoplastics down to tens of nanometers, however, only from very small sample sizes (typically ∼10 µl). In this work, we describe a method that enables sampling of 1 liter of seawater by the means of correlative Raman- and SEM-techniques. This is achieved by adapting common microplastic sample purification proto- cols (i.e. chemical digestion) to suit the nanoplastic study. In addition, we decorate a membrane filter with SERS-property to amplify the Raman signals. Together, the purification method combined with the use of the SERS-activated-membrane-filter enables identification and imaging of in- dividual nanoplastic particles from significantly larger sample sizes than before. These results aim to provide useful tools for researchers in the fight against plastic pollution.

Keywords

Nanoplastic
chemical digestion
seawater
electron microscopy
Raman microscopy
SERS

Supplementary materials

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Description
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Title
Supporting Information for Upscaling sample size for microscopical detection of nanoplastics
Description
A photograph of the nanoplastic suspension, scanning electron microscope images of nanoplastics prior to chemical digestion, measurements of the nanoplastics
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Comment number 1, Antonio Ragusa: Aug 14, 2023, 07:11

The sentence:"Lesie et al. reported microplastics in human placentas and Ragusa et al. reported microplastics and nanoplastics in blood.15, 16 " is not correct, it is exactly the opposite i.e.: Ragusa reported microplastics in human placentas and Lesie et al. reported microplastics and nanoplastics in blood.

Response,
Arto Hiltunen :
Sep 05, 2023, 10:46

Thank you for spotting this mistake, and my apologies for the confusion! I will make sure to put the references in correct order asap!