A colorimetric detection of polystyrene nanoplastics with gold nanoparticles in the aqueous phase

Nanoplastics has become a growing environmental concern because these tiny particles can easily penetrate biological tissues and have possible toxic effects. FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy methods are currently used to analyze microplastics (5 mm or less), but they encounter difficulty when the particles are below 1 μm. On the other hand, thermoanalysis of nanoplastics does not provide the size information. Therefore, herein, we proposed the colorimetric detection method with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to measure the concentration of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs, size = 350 and 880 nm) through a color change that is obvious to the naked eye. A mixed dispersion of PSNPs and AuNPs was added with acetone, a good solvent for polystyrene. In this colorimetric detection, acetone acted as a key component to enhance or hinder the aggregation of AuNPs around PSNPs. Namely, acetone itself promoted AuNPs aggregation, but it was dissolved partially PS chains from PSNSs to act as inhibitor of aggregation of AuNPs. These two contradictory feature of acetone to AuNPs and PSNPs affect the aggregation and color of AuNPs (dispersed = red, aggregated = blue). Finally, the heat-map between PSNSs and acetone was prepared to use for estimation of concentration of PSNPs in the aqueous solution with naked eye. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to measure nanoplastics by colorimetry.