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Optimizing the Concentration of Nile Red for Screening of Microplastics in Drinking Water
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This study optimized the concentration of Nile red fluorescent dye for pre-screening microplastics in drinking water, establishing a protocol that balances detection sensitivity with background fluorescence to improve accuracy in identifying plastic particles.
Increasing concern regarding the presence of microplastics in drinking water has led to a growing number of studies aimed at quantifying microplastics in water. In this work, we present an optimized procedure for the use of Nile red (NR) as a fluorescent staining agent for pre-screening of microplastics in bottled water. Positive and negative control experiments with NR concentrations ranging from 0.001 to 10 mg/L showed that the appropriate NR concentration is an important factor in obtaining representative particle counts. Non-optimized staining concentrations led to underestimation or overestimation of the particle count. In this study, the optimized NR staining concentration was found to be 0.1 mg/L. This method was successfully used to screen particles in seven different brands of bottled water, consisting of both still and carbonated water, in both plastic and glass bottles. Particles larger than 100 μm were chemically characterized using attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Sixty-seven percent of these particles pre-screened with NR were confirmed to be polymers. Particles smaller than 100 μm were qualitatively analyzed using pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (Py-GC-MS). Analysis of polymers between ∼5 and 100 μm using Py-GC-MS confirmed that this smaller fraction generally mirrors the FTIR results for particles larger than l00 μm.
More Papers Like This
Optimizing the Concentration of Nile Red for Screening of Microplastics in Bottled Water
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Scientists developed a better way to detect tiny plastic particles in bottled water by fine-tuning a special dye test, making it more accurate at spotting microplastics of different sizes. When they tested seven brands of bottled water (still and sparkling, in both plastic and glass bottles), they confirmed that a majority of the flagged particles were indeed plastic, a useful step toward more reliable methods for tracking how much plastic we might be drinking.
Suitability of Nile Red Dye for In-Situ Microplastic Detection
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This thesis evaluated the suitability of Nile Red fluorescent dye for detecting microplastics in environmental samples, examining its effectiveness and limitations for field use. Accurate and affordable detection methods are essential for tracking plastic pollution in oceans and waterways.
A rapid-screening approach to detect and quantify microplastics based on fluorescent tagging with Nile Red
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Researchers developed a rapid fluorescent screening method using Nile Red dye to detect and quantify microplastics in environmental samples, finding it significantly faster than conventional methods while maintaining reasonable accuracy.
Development of an Inexpensive and Comparable Microplastic Detection Method Using Fluorescent Staining with Novel Nile Red Derivatives
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Researchers developed an inexpensive fluorescent staining method using novel Nile Red derivatives for microplastic detection, validating it by measuring microplastics in German wastewater treatment plant effluent over one year with improved precision and selectivity.
Modification of fluorescence staining method for small-sized microplastic quantification: Focus on the interference exclusion and exposure time optimization
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Researchers optimized a Nile Red/DAPI fluorescence co-staining method for quantifying small microplastics, identifying key interference factors and exposure time parameters that significantly improve accuracy of microplastic detection.
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