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Fiber Laser-Backscattered Optofluidic Sensor for Ultrasensitive and Wide-Range Nanoplastic Quantification
Summary
Scientists have developed a new laser-based sensor that can detect and measure tiny plastic particles called nanoplastics in water, even at extremely low concentrations. This matters because nanoplastics are too small to see and hard to detect with current tools, but they may end up in our drinking water and food—this device could enable faster, on-site testing to monitor contamination levels. While the tool shows promise in real water samples, more research is needed to understand what levels of nanoplastic exposure actually mean for human health.
We report a fiber laser-backscattered optofluidic sensor (FLOS) for label-free, non-destructive quantification of nanoplastics (NPLs) from 20 nm to 1000 nm. A Mie-regime detection model reveals optimal sensitivity at 200 nm due to constructive interference of backward scattering modes. The sensor integrates a high-NA fiber probe (NA = 0.37) with a fiber-embedded optofluidic chip, achieving a limit of detection of 0.021 µg/mL for 200 nm polystyrene NPLs. The broad applicability to other five polymer types and operational robustness in natural water matrices are demonstrated, establishing a new platform for on-site NPLs monitoring.