Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Suitability of Nile Red Dye for In-Situ Microplastic Detection

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.

2023
Article Tier 2

A rapid-screening approach to detect and quantify microplastics based on fluorescent tagging with Nile Red

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.

2017 Scientific Reports 897 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic detection and identification by Nile red staining: Towards a semi-automated, cost- and time-effective technique

Researchers developed a semi-automated, cost-effective method for microplastic detection using Nile red fluorescent staining, showing it can significantly reduce the time and expense of identifying microplastics compared to traditional spectroscopic approaches.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 176 citations
Article Tier 2

Development of an Inexpensive and Comparable Microplastic Detection Method Using Fluorescent Staining with Novel Nile Red Derivatives

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.

2023 Analytica—A Journal of Analytical Chemistry and Chemical Analysis 41 citations
Article Tier 2

Optical System for In-situ Detection of Microplastics

Researchers developed a portable optical system capable of detecting, identifying, continuously monitoring, and quantifying microplastics in situ at natural water bodies. The system uses optical techniques to observe the temporal behavior of microplastic concentrations at fixed locations, enabling real-time environmental monitoring without sample collection and laboratory processing.

2024
Article Tier 2

Low-cost portable microplastic detection system integrating nile red fluorescence staining with YOLOv8-based deep learning

Researchers built a portable, low-cost microplastic detector that uses fluorescent dye and artificial intelligence to identify six types of plastic particles in just 19 seconds at a cost of only $0.10 per test. This affordable technology could make it much easier for communities and researchers to monitor microplastic contamination in water and the environment, which is essential for understanding human exposure levels.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Innovative application of Nile Red (NR)-based dye for direct detection of micro and nanoplastics (MNPs) in diverse aquatic environments

Researchers developed a method using Nile Red fluorescent dye in n-heptane to directly detect micro- and nanoplastics in diverse water types without prior extraction or processing, achieving sensitive detection of polystyrene, PET, and latex microspheres. The approach offers significant time savings compared to conventional detection methods.

2024 Chemosphere 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Highly efficient Nile red staining for the rapid quantification of microplastic number concentrations using flow cytometry

Scientists developed an improved method for staining microplastics with a fluorescent dye (Nile red) that embeds the dye inside the plastic particles rather than just coating the surface, resulting in much brighter and more reliable detection. Combined with high-speed flow cytometry, the technique can rapidly count microplastic particles smaller than 10 µm in environmental water samples with recovery rates above 99%. Faster and more accurate counting methods like this are important for scaling up microplastic monitoring across many water sources.

2025 Analytical Methods 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Portable On-Site Optical Detection and Quantification of Microplastics

Researchers built a portable, on-site optical device to detect and quantify microplastics in water. The device addresses the challenge of detecting small, often translucent particles without a laboratory setting. Portable microplastic detection tools could enable real-time monitoring in the field, supporting faster environmental assessments.

2023 1 citations
Article Tier 2

A Portable Optical Sensor for Microplastic Detection: Development and Calibration

Researchers built a portable, low-cost optical sensor prototype designed to detect microplastics by shining multiple wavelengths of light through water samples. The device measures how different plastic particles absorb and scatter light, producing color spectra that can help identify microplastics. The sensor offers an affordable field-deployable option for environmental monitoring, with potential future improvements using machine learning for automated identification.

2025 Applied Sciences 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring the potential of photoluminescence spectroscopy in combination with Nile Red staining for microplastic detection

Researchers explored photoluminescence spectroscopy combined with Nile Red staining as a cost- and time-efficient detection method for microplastics, evaluating improvements to existing fluorescence microscopy approaches for more reliable global monitoring of microplastic abundance.

2020 Marine Pollution Bulletin 86 citations
Article Tier 2

Rapid detection of nanoplastics and small microplastics by Nile-Red staining and flow cytometry

Researchers developed a rapid method for detecting nanoplastics and small microplastics by combining Nile-Red fluorescent staining with flow cytometry. The technique can quantify plastic particles in the 0.6 to 15 micrometer range in just 90 seconds, which is hundreds of times faster than conventional spectroscopic methods. The approach showed high detection efficiency for polyethylene, polyvinylchloride, and polystyrene, offering a practical tool for environmental nanoplastic monitoring.

2022 Environmental Chemistry Letters 65 citations
Article Tier 2

Analyzing microplastics with Nile Red: Emerging trends, challenges, and prospects

This review evaluates the Nile Red staining technique as an analytical method for identifying and quantifying microplastics in environmental samples. The study concludes that while Nile Red has emerged as a viable low-cost alternative to visual identification for microplastics research, not everything that fluoresces is plastic, so additional spectroscopic analysis is needed to validate results.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 273 citations
Article Tier 2

Towards the Development of Portable and In Situ Optical Devices for Detection of Micro-and Nanoplastics in Water: A Review on the Current Status

This review surveys the development of portable and in-situ optical devices for detecting micro- and nanoplastics in water, as most current detection methods are laboratory-based. Researchers evaluated emerging technologies including portable Raman and infrared spectroscopy, fluorescence-based sensors, and smartphone-integrated detection systems. The study identifies key technical challenges that must be overcome to enable real-time, field-based monitoring of plastic pollution in water.

2021 Polymers 89 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment of microplastics using microfluidic approach

Researchers developed a microfluidic chip-based method using Nile red fluorescent staining to detect and count microplastic particles, offering a faster and less expensive alternative to conventional microscopy and spectroscopy approaches for environmental monitoring.

2022 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 28 citations
Article Tier 2

Optical measurement technologies for detecting low levels of pollution and identifying microplastics in water

Researchers reviewed optical technologies for detecting and identifying microplastics in water, experimentally characterizing the fluorescence spectra of PE and PET microplastic samples under 365 nm excitation and identifying spectral bands enabling identification of different polymer types, then proposing a comprehensive hardware solution using a fluorescent probe for microplastic visualization.

2024
Article Tier 2

A Low-Cost Microfluidic Method for Microplastics Identification: Towards Continuous Recognition

Researchers developed a low-cost 3D-printed microfluidic device combining Nile Red staining with continuous-flow processing to enable rapid, affordable microplastic identification, demonstrating performance comparable to conventional staining methods while supporting field-deployable monitoring.

2022 Micromachines 28 citations
Article Tier 2

A simple method for detecting and quantifying microplastics utilizing fluorescent dyes - Safranine T, fluorescein isophosphate, Nile red based on thermal expansion and contraction property

This paper describes a simple fluorescence-based method for detecting and quantifying microplastics using three dyes (Safranine T, fluorescein isophosphate, and Nile Red) that exploit the thermal expansion and contraction properties of plastics. The low-cost, accessible method aims to enable more widespread microplastic monitoring without expensive specialized equipment.

2019 Environmental Pollution 162 citations
Article Tier 2

An Economic Fluorescent Method for Microplastics Detection in Soil Samples

Researchers developed a simplified, low-cost Nile red fluorescent dye method for detecting microplastics in soil samples, validating it on sand spiked with microplastics (1-5 mm) and achieving detection rates close to 100% using blue light illumination and orange filter glasses. Testing on urban lake sediment, agricultural soil, garden soil, and state park soil showed urban lake and garden samples had the highest microplastic densities, with the method suitable for educational outreach.

2024
Article Tier 2

Fast and portable fluorescence lifetime analysis for early warning detection of micro- and nanoplastics in water

Researchers developed a portable fluorescence-based system that can detect micro- and nanoplastics in water without any sample preparation or labeling. The method works by measuring the natural fluorescence lifetime of plastic particles using a pulsed laser, achieving detection limits as low as 0.01 mg/mL. The study presents a promising early-warning tool for rapid, on-site monitoring of plastic contamination in water sources.

2023 Environmental Research 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Fluorescent technique to detect microplastics in a natural matrix using Methylene blue and Nile red

Researchers tested methylene blue fluorescent staining as a low-cost technique for detecting microplastics in complex natural matrices such as sediment and biological tissue, finding the method provided sufficient contrast for visual identification without requiring expensive spectroscopic equipment.

2025 Biotechnic & Histochemistry 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of Nile Red-Stained Microplastics through Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Researchers developed an improved method for characterizing microplastics using Nile Red fluorescent staining combined with fluorescence spectroscopy. They found that different plastic polymers produce distinct fluorescent signatures when stained, enabling more reliable identification of plastic types. The technique offers a faster and more affordable alternative to traditional microplastic detection methods, which could help scale up environmental monitoring efforts.

2024 Preprints.org 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Co-staining microplastics with Nile Red and Rose Bengal for improved optical quantification

A co-staining protocol using both Nile Red and Rose Bengal fluorescent dyes was developed and validated for improved optical detection of microplastics, showing that dual staining outperforms single-dye approaches by reducing false positives and improving quantification accuracy in complex environmental samples.

2025 Scientific Reports 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Quantitative Detection of Microplastics in Water through Fluorescence Signal Analysis

Researchers developed an automatic, portable fluorescence-based system for quantitative detection of microplastics in water, using dye-stained particles flowing through a laser beam to enable fast and objective counting without manual microscopy.

2023 Photonics 14 citations