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Simple and High-sensitivity Analysis of Small Microplastics with Phase Separation by Using Water/isopropanol/chloroform
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Researchers developed a high-sensitivity technique for detecting small microplastics using phase separation with a water/isopropanol/chloroform mixture, which concentrates microbeads into a low-volume extraction droplet phase. The high concentration ratio and full field-of-view coverage enabled significantly improved detection sensitivity for microbeads compared to pre-concentration methods.
Phase separation using a water/isopropanol/chloroform mixture generated a small amount of the extraction phase, in which a small portion of microplastics was concentrated. Based on these results, we examined the development of a simple high-sensitivity technique for the analysis of small microplastics with phase separation using a water/isopropanol/chloroform mixture as the extractant. Phase separation phenomenon with water/2-propanol/chloroform generated a low volume of the droplet extraction phase, and microbeads are concentrated to the extraction phase at that time. As this method has a high concentration ratio and all objects are introduced into the field of view more efficiently than that before concentration, it is possible to detect microbeads with high sensitivity.
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