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A Silicon Nanomembrane Analysis Pipeline (SNAP) for Multimodal Analysis of Microplastics in Drinking Water
Summary
Researchers demonstrated the Silicon Nanomembrane Analysis Pipeline (SNAP) for capturing and multimodally characterizing microplastics in drinking water using silicon nitride nanomembranes that concentrate particles for optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy on a single substrate. Applied to Rochester, NY water samples, SNAP streamlined sample preparation and enabled individuated particle-level analysis of drinking water MPs.
The biological impact of microplastics in human food and water sources is largely unknown, and drinking water sources are not exempt from microplastic contamination. Here, we demonstrate a streamlined approach for capturing, quantifying, and identifying microplastics in drinking water. We present an analytical workflow termed Silicon Nanomembrane Analysis Pipeline (SNAP) that takes advantage of novel silicon nitride nanomembranes which enable a significant “concentration factor," consolidating suspended particles into a planarized observation area for individuated, quantifiable, and multimodal particle analysis on the same substrate. Drinking water samples sourced in the Rochester, NY region were collected and analyzed using SNAP. Particles in each sample were characterized by optical and electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and various identified constituents were quantified in proportion to total captured particles.