“…The four microscopy methods applied in this study, traditional microscopy, Nile red staining and microscopy, and characterization using mFT-IR or mRaman, as well as chemical characterization using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), are increasingly common terminal analyses. 55,56 The ideal sample presentation varies between these terminal analyses and the study design should consider methods that minimize sample processing and yield the optimal sample presentation for their chosen terminal analysis.…”
Section: Recommendations For Future Studiesmentioning
The abundance and distribution of microplastic (<5 mm) has become a growing concern, particularly over the past decade. Research to date has focused on water, soil, and organism matrices but generally disregarded air. We explored airborne microplastic inside and outside of buildings in coastal California by filtering known volumes of air through glass fiber filters, which were then subsequently characterized with a variety of microscopy techniques: gross traditional microscopy, fluorescent microscopy following staining with Nile red, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and micro-Fourier transform infrared (µFT-IR) spectroscopy. Microplastics permeated the air, with indoor (3.3 ± 2.9 fibers and 12.6 ± 8.0 fragments m–3; mean ± 1 SD) harboring twice as much as outdoor air (0.6 ± 0.6 fibers and 5.6 ± 3.2 fragments m–3). Microplastic fiber length did not differ significantly between indoor and outdoor air, but indoor microplastic fragments (58.6 ± 55 µm) were half the size of outdoor fragments (104.8 ± 64.9 µm). Micro-Raman and FT-IR painted slightly different pictures of airborne plastic compounds, with micro-Raman suggesting polyvinyl chloride dominates indoor air, followed by polyethylene (PE) and µFT-IR showing polystyrene dominates followed by PE and polyethylene terephthalate. The ubiquity of airborne microplastic points to significant new potential sources of plastic inputs to terrestrial and marine ecosystems and raises significant concerns about inhalation exposure to humans both indoors and outdoors.
“…The four microscopy methods applied in this study, traditional microscopy, Nile red staining and microscopy, and characterization using mFT-IR or mRaman, as well as chemical characterization using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), are increasingly common terminal analyses. 55,56 The ideal sample presentation varies between these terminal analyses and the study design should consider methods that minimize sample processing and yield the optimal sample presentation for their chosen terminal analysis.…”
Section: Recommendations For Future Studiesmentioning
The abundance and distribution of microplastic (<5 mm) has become a growing concern, particularly over the past decade. Research to date has focused on water, soil, and organism matrices but generally disregarded air. We explored airborne microplastic inside and outside of buildings in coastal California by filtering known volumes of air through glass fiber filters, which were then subsequently characterized with a variety of microscopy techniques: gross traditional microscopy, fluorescent microscopy following staining with Nile red, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and micro-Fourier transform infrared (µFT-IR) spectroscopy. Microplastics permeated the air, with indoor (3.3 ± 2.9 fibers and 12.6 ± 8.0 fragments m–3; mean ± 1 SD) harboring twice as much as outdoor air (0.6 ± 0.6 fibers and 5.6 ± 3.2 fragments m–3). Microplastic fiber length did not differ significantly between indoor and outdoor air, but indoor microplastic fragments (58.6 ± 55 µm) were half the size of outdoor fragments (104.8 ± 64.9 µm). Micro-Raman and FT-IR painted slightly different pictures of airborne plastic compounds, with micro-Raman suggesting polyvinyl chloride dominates indoor air, followed by polyethylene (PE) and µFT-IR showing polystyrene dominates followed by PE and polyethylene terephthalate. The ubiquity of airborne microplastic points to significant new potential sources of plastic inputs to terrestrial and marine ecosystems and raises significant concerns about inhalation exposure to humans both indoors and outdoors.
“…Sediment samples can be shaken to rise plastics to the surface. After the particles are extracted, they can be weighed, 11 photographed, 10 measured for their dimensions, and assessed for their shape, color, and texture characteristics (covered in depth in Cowger et al., 12 within this special issue). The naked eye sorting technique can also be easily deployed in the field, using a field scale and/or photogrammetry.…”
Section: Optical Identification Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…A detailed discussion on these data analysis methods was reviewed within this special issue. 12 Figure 5.(a) FT-IR spectra of an identified particle using FT-IR imaging by use of the free software siMPle 52,76,77 found on the sample RefEnv2. 78 (b) False color image of the filter area of filter RefEnv2 78 after automated analysis and image analysis.…”
“…Especially for the chemical analysis, a plethora of different methods and software are used to interpret generated data. 5,6,14 Among the spectroscopy-based techniques, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) is considered most suitable to analyze MP from 5 mm to ∼10 µm, even if it requires different acquisition modes according to the particle size. 6 Micro-FT-IR (µFT-IR) imaging 17–20 permits scanning of the whole sample, avoiding the manual sorting/point-and-shoot steps that are otherwise necessary, which are a source of bias as the analysis becomes operator dependent.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Each of these steps has its challenges (cf. Lusher et al, 3 Brander et al, 4 Primpke et al, 6 and Cowger et al 14 ). Additionally, there is an increasing awareness for quality assurance and quality control (QA/ QC) to successfully and reliably identify MP in environmental samples.…”
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
