Laser-based techniques: Novel tools for the identification and characterization of aged microplastics with developed biofilm

Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in the analysis of metals, chemicals and materials

“…Porizka et al described the use of LIBS to analyse pristine micro-polymer particles as well as aged ones that had developed a biofilm . 108 Five types of polymer were tested: polyamide, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene and PVC; and these were all “weathered” under controlled conditions in either freshwater or wastewater. Biofilm was allowed to develop and the micro-polymers were then characterised using optical and scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, LIBS and LA-ICP-MS.…”

A Progress Review On Characterization, Environmental Behaviors And Toxicity Effects Of Micro (Nano) Plastics Using Atomic Spectrometry

“…It was found that data clustering based on plastic categories had good classification effect. 65 For example, when analyzing samples from soil, the element and molecular information of LIBS and Raman spectroscopy can complement each other, reducing the number of drop-out in the identificationsorting process.…”

“…When analyzed in normal mode, the main fragment ions of PE obtained are [C3H3(CH2)n] + , [CnH2n] + and [CnH2n+1] + . 65 The fragment ion m/z=113 is considered to be suitable for PE identification. This method shows application potential in analyzing more complex plastic particles released from food contact materials.…”

Ethanol, Not Water, Should Be Used as the Dispersant When Measuring Microplastic Particle Size Distribution by Laser Diffraction

“…Ethanol has been applied in pycnometer studies to determine the particle density of MPs (e.g. see below in this study and Porizka et al, 2023), and also used as a dispersant for measuring the PSD of other cohesive particles (e.g., lactose powders; Adi et al, 2007). We therefore hypothesised that the use of ethanol as a dispersant for PSD measurement using wet laser diffraction would reduce floatation and aggregation leading to a reduction in the measured particle size and increased similarity between particle size measured by wet laser diffraction and direct measurement using microscope observations.…”