Assessment of microplastics using microfluidic approach

Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than 5 mm, and microplastics have gradually become a severe environmental pollution source that exists in the atmosphere. The identification and quantification of microplastic particles are challenging, current approaches require expensive instruments and are usually time-consuming. In this study, a microfluidic method was introduced to detect and count microplastics using a polymer-based microfluidic chip. Microplastic particles were stained with Nile red, dispersed in the carrier fluid and passed through the microchannel. A fluorescence microscope filmed the whole process as microplastic particles passed through the microchannel. Finally, the software automatically analyzed the video footage for the microplastic particle counting and size analysis. The entire process is fully automated for microplastic particle counting and is much more efficient than the current manual counting method. The proposed study may have broad application potentials in the environmental field.