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Photoluminescence spectroscopy on commercially available plastic products
Summary
Researchers tested photoluminescence spectroscopy as a method to identify and distinguish different types of commercially available plastic products, building on earlier work showing that plastics fluoresce differently than natural materials. The technique offers a potentially faster and cheaper alternative to standard FTIR and Raman spectroscopy for microplastic identification.
Commercially available plastic products are produced for specific applications. They represent polymeric compounds, i.e. base materials mixed with various types of additives such as pigments. The identification of the plastic type is the key goal in microplastics analysis but also the key process when it comes to recycling macroscopic plastic litter. Established methods to analyze microplastic particles are FTIR spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Both methods have shortcomings regarding plastic size and measurement speed. In 2020 Ornik et al. demonstrated that polymeric base materials can be differentiated from natural materials using photoluminescence spectroscopy. Here, we extend this method by examining commercial polymeric packaging materials found in the supermarket, which are colored by different pigments.