Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

B2.4 - Nanoelectromechanical System Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (NEMS-FTIR) for Nanoplastic and Polymer Degradation Analysis

Researchers developed a highly sensitive technique combining nanoelectromechanical systems with infrared spectroscopy (NEMS-FTIR) that can detect as little as 1 nanogram of polystyrene or polypropylene nanoplastic particles as small as 54 nm in diameter. This breakthrough in detection sensitivity could greatly improve researchers' ability to identify and characterize nanoplastics — the tiniest and hardest-to-detect form of plastic pollution — in environmental and biological samples.

2025 Lectures 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Photoinduced Force Microscopy as an Efficient Method Towards the Detection of Nanoplastics

Researchers demonstrated photoinduced force microscopy as an effective method for detecting and chemically characterizing individual nanoplastic particles, overcoming limitations of conventional techniques that lack either sufficient spatial resolution or spectroscopic capability at the nanoscale.

2021 Chemistry - Methods 30 citations
Review Tier 2

Analysing micro- and nanoplastics with cutting-edge infrared spectroscopy techniques: a critical review

This review evaluates cutting-edge infrared spectroscopy techniques for detecting and analyzing micro- and nanoplastics in environmental and food samples. Better detection methods are crucial for understanding human exposure because they allow scientists to measure smaller particles more accurately, including nanoplastics that are small enough to cross biological barriers and accumulate in human tissues.

2024 Analytical Methods 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Overcoming resolution limitations: Spectroscopy of sub-30 nm nanoplastics

Researchers developed a multi-technique approach combining standard micro-Raman spectroscopy with atomic force microscopy to characterize nanoplastics as small as 25 nm, achieving a mass detection limit of 8.6 attograms and demonstrating the capability to obtain single-particle spectra from sub-30 nm polystyrene nanoparticles.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Overcoming resolution limitations: Spectroscopy of sub-30 nm nanoplastics

Researchers developed a multi-technique approach combining standard micro-Raman spectroscopy with atomic force microscopy to characterize nanoplastics as small as 25 nm, achieving a mass detection limit of 8.6 attograms and demonstrating the capability to obtain single-particle spectra from sub-30 nm polystyrene nanoparticles.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Characterization of a multilevel micro/nano-plastics Infrared Spectroscopy using optical chopper modulation and induced anti-stokes shift techniques

Researchers designed a new infrared spectroscopy system combining optical modulation and laser techniques to detect nanoplastics and microplastics smaller than 10 micrometers — well below the 20-micrometer detection limit of most current instruments — potentially enabling more sensitive identification of the tiniest plastic particles in environmental samples.

2025 Results in Optics 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Possibilities and Limitations of AFM-IR to Detect Nanoplastic Particles in the Atmosphere

Researchers evaluated the capabilities and limitations of AFM-IR spectroscopy for detecting nanoplastic particles in atmospheric samples. They found that while the technique can identify individual nanoplastic particles, significant challenges remain in quantifying atmospheric nanoplastic concentrations due to detection limits and sample preparation complexity. The study highlights the need for improved analytical methods to assess human inhalation exposure to nanoplastics.

2026 Environmental Science Nano
Article Tier 2

High-performance micro/nanoplastics characterization by MALDI-FTICR mass spectrometry

Researchers developed a MALDI-FTICR mass spectrometry method for high-precision chemical identification of micro- and nanoplastics, demonstrating unambiguous characterization of multiple polymer types including polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate even at very small particle sizes.

2022 Chemosphere 6 citations
Article Tier 2

High-resolution characterization technology for micro-/nano-plastics

This review provides an overview of advanced technologies for detecting and characterizing micro- and nanoplastics, including Raman spectroscopy, infrared imaging, and mass spectrometry techniques. Researchers evaluated the capabilities and limitations of each method, particularly for identifying the smallest plastic particles that are most challenging to measure. The study emphasizes that improving detection at the nanoscale is essential for accurately assessing the environmental and health risks of plastic pollution.

2024 Journal of Physics D Applied Physics 6 citations
Article Tier 2

A novel method for purification, quantitative analysis and characterization of microplastic fibers using Micro-FTIR

Researchers developed an improved method for purifying, quantifying, and characterizing microplastic fibers using micro-FTIR spectroscopy, addressing the challenge that fibers are harder to process and identify than other microplastic shapes. The method improvements enable more accurate characterization of this common but technically challenging category of environmental microplastics.

2019 Chemosphere 191 citations
Article Tier 2

Current techniques for identifying, quantifying, and characterizing micro and nanoplastics with emphasis on strengths, limitations, and challenges

Researchers reviewed current analytical techniques for identifying, quantifying, and characterizing micro- and nanoplastics across environmental matrices. The review highlights the strengths and limitations of methods including FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, and pyrolysis-GC/MS, and calls for standardization to improve comparability across studies.

2025 Discover Environment
Article Tier 2

Identification of microplastics and nanoplastics in environmental water by AFM-IR

Scientists used a new technique called AFM-IR, which combines atomic force microscopy with infrared spectroscopy, to identify individual nanoplastic particles in environmental water for the first time. This method can detect particles as small as 100 nanometers, far beyond the limits of traditional microscopy. They found several types of nanoplastics in a water sample, including an epoxy and a biodegradable plastic, demonstrating that this tool could improve our ability to track nanoplastic pollution.

2025 Analytica Chimica Acta 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Classification and Quantification of Microplastics (<100 μm) Using a Focal Plane Array–Fourier Transform Infrared Imaging System and Machine Learning

Researchers developed a method using focal plane array Fourier transform infrared imaging to classify and quantify microplastics smaller than 100 micrometers. The technique allows simultaneous chemical identification and size measurement of individual particles across a filter sample, significantly improving throughput compared to manual analysis. The study demonstrates that automated spectroscopic imaging can reliably detect and categorize very small microplastics that are often missed by conventional methods.

2020 Analytical Chemistry 172 citations
Article Tier 2

AFM-IR as a tool to detect nanoplastic particles in aerosols

Scientists have developed a new method to detect extremely tiny plastic particles (called nanoplastics) floating in the air we breathe. These particles are much smaller than a human hair and harder to find than larger plastic pieces, but they may be more dangerous because they can get deeper into our lungs and bodies. This detection tool will help researchers better understand how much of these invisible plastics we're actually breathing in every day.

2026
Article Tier 2

Detection methods of micro and nanoplastics

This review surveyed current detection methods for micro- and nanoplastics across environmental and food matrices, comparing techniques like FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry for identifying these emerging contaminants.

2023 Advances in food and nutrition research 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Contributions of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in microplastic pollution research: A review

This review covers advances in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy techniques — including chemical imaging — for identifying polymer types in microplastic samples and tracing their fate in different environmental matrices.

2020 Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 480 citations
Article Tier 2

Chemical characterization of microplastics from biosolids: a comparison of FTIR and O-PTIR microspectroscopy

Researchers compared conventional FTIR microspectroscopy with the emerging Optical Photothermal Infrared (O-PTIR) technique for chemical characterization and polymer-type identification of microplastics extracted from biosolids, finding that O-PTIR's submicron resolution and artifact-free spectra offer advantages over traditional methods.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Spectro‐Microscopic Techniques for Studying Nanoplastics in the Environment and in Organisms

This review examines spectro-microscopic techniques for detecting and characterizing nanoplastics (under 1 um) in environmental and biological matrices, arguing that effective analysis requires combining particle imaging with chemical characterization of the same particles, and highlighting methods capable of simultaneous morphological and chemical identification.

2022 Angewandte Chemie 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Detecting small microplastics down to 1.3 μm using large area ATR-FTIR

Researchers introduced large-area ATR-FTIR spectroscopy as a new technique capable of detecting microplastics as small as 1.3 micrometers, outperforming conventional micro-FTIR for small particle detection in marine water samples.

2023 Marine Pollution Bulletin 23 citations
Article Tier 2

CombiningSubmicronSpectroscopy Techniques (AFM-IRand O‑PTIR) To Detect and Quantify Microplastics and Nanoplasticsin Snow from a Utah Ski Resort

Researchers applied atomic force microscopy-based infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) and optical photothermal infrared (O-PTIR) spectroscopy to detect and quantify sub-micron plastic particles in snow samples from a Utah ski resort, finding a concentration of 0.15 micrograms per milliliter of a biodegradable copolyester with 96 percent of particles having thicknesses below 1 micrometer and the smallest particle recorded at 14 nanometers. The study demonstrates the power of paired submicron spectroscopy techniques for nanoplastic characterization in environmental matrices where conventional methods fail.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Direct Nanoplastics Detection Below the Diffraction Limit Using Micro Raman

Researchers demonstrated that micro-Raman spectroscopy can directly detect polystyrene nanoplastic particles as small as 20 nm — far below the normal diffraction limit. This advances analytical capabilities for detecting the smallest nanoplastic particles in environmental samples.

2023
Article Tier 2

PhotothermalInfrared Imaging of Nanoplastics in HumanCells with Nanoscale Resolution

Researchers used photothermal infrared imaging with nanoscale resolution to detect and localize polystyrene nanoparticles inside individual human fibroblast and glioblastoma cells, overcoming the size limitation of conventional FTIR and enabling sub-100 nm nanoplastic localization in cells.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Characterization of microplastics in tap water by optical photothermal infrared

Researchers used optical photothermal infrared spectroscopy to characterize microplastics in tap water, identifying particles as small as a few micrometers that conventional FTIR techniques cannot resolve. The higher detection sensitivity revealed that microplastic concentrations in drinking water are likely underestimated by standard methods.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Identification of Microplastics Using a Custom Built Micro-Raman Spectrometer

Researchers built a custom micro-Raman spectrometer and demonstrated its use for identifying microplastic polymer types in environmental samples, achieving sensitive and specific polymer identification at particle sizes down to a few micrometers.

2023 Journal of Physics Conference Series 18 citations