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Characterization of microplastics in tap water by optical photothermal infrared
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Researchers used optical photothermal infrared spectroscopy to characterize microplastics in tap water, identifying particles as small as a few micrometers that conventional FTIR techniques cannot resolve. The higher detection sensitivity revealed that microplastic concentrations in drinking water are likely underestimated by standard methods.
Nowadays, plastic materials are omnipresent in our daily life. Microplastics (MPs) released from plastic materials are global contaminants of serious concern to human and ecosystem health. MPs contaminating drinking water is a growing issue that has been the focus of many studies, however, the detection and quantification of MPs are still a neck bottle. In this study, a novel approach of optical photothermal infrared (O-PTIR) was used to investigate the microplastic size, type and quantity in the tap water. The result showed that nine types of MPs were found in the tap water, with three dominant types being rubber, polyethylene, and polyamide. The size found in the tap water ranged from 4.8 to 50 μm. The total number of MPs ranged from 32,050 - 46,840 MPs/L. As we know, this study was the first research to use the optical photothermal infrared to characterize MPs in tap water. O-PTIR can push the boundary of the characterization of MPs, as it can detect the particles down to 500 nm, which allows more MPs in smaller sizes to be detected compared to other technologies. Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559060/document
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