Papers

61,005 results
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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

Identification and quantification of microplastics using Nile Red staining

Researchers tested Nile Red staining as a method for identifying and quantifying microplastics in environmental samples, finding it useful for rapid screening but noting limitations in distinguishing plastics from non-plastic particles.

2016 Marine Pollution Bulletin 579 citations
Article Tier 2

Towards a low-cost, rapid microplastic optical detection system using fluorescent staining through Nile Red for in situ ocean deployment

This study presents a proof-of-concept for a portable, low-cost microplastic detection device that uses fluorescent dye (Nile Red) and a simple optical sensor to detect plastic particles in water. The system produced a signal that scaled linearly with microplastic concentration in lab tests. Development of cheap, field-deployable sensors like this could dramatically improve our ability to monitor microplastic pollution in real time across oceans and waterways, where current lab-based methods are too expensive and slow for widespread use.

2023 2 citations
Article Tier 2

The potential of fluorescent dyes—comparative study of Nile red and three derivatives for the detection of microplastics

Researchers compared Nile red and three newly developed fluorescent dye derivatives for staining microplastics, finding that the derivatives achieved greater selectivity for plastic particles and more intense fluorescence than standard Nile red, improving detection sensitivity.

2021 Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 106 citations
Article Tier 2

Nile Red Staining as a Subsidiary Method for Microplastic Quantifica-tion: A Comparison of Three Solvents and Factors Influencing Application Reliability

This study evaluated Nile Red fluorescent staining as a method for quantifying microplastics in environmental samples, comparing it to traditional identification techniques. The approach can help distinguish microplastics from organic particles more quickly and cost-effectively, supporting higher-throughput microplastic analysis in environmental monitoring programs.

2017 SDRP Journal of Earth Sciences & Environmental Studies 38 citations
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

Optimizing the Concentration of Nile Red for Screening of Microplastics in Drinking Water

This study optimized the concentration of Nile red fluorescent dye for pre-screening microplastics in drinking water, establishing a protocol that balances detection sensitivity with background fluorescence to improve accuracy in identifying plastic particles.

2023 ACS ES&T Water 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring Nile Red staining as an analytical tool for surface-oxidized microplastics

Scientists evaluated Nile Red, a fluorescent dye commonly used to detect microplastics, and found it works differently depending on whether microplastics have been weathered by the environment. Surface oxidation from aging in the environment changes how well the dye sticks to plastics, which means current detection methods may be undercounting weathered microplastics in environmental samples.

2025 Environmental Research 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring the Efficacy of Nile Red in Microplastic Quantification: A Costaining Approach

This study assessed the effectiveness of Nile Red, a fluorescent dye commonly used to detect microplastics, by comparing it with other staining approaches and evaluating detection accuracy. The research found that costaining strategies and careful protocol standardization can improve the reliability of Nile Red-based microplastic quantification.

2019 Environmental Science & Technology Letters 168 citations
Article Tier 2

Nile Red staining for the detection of microplastics: a comprehensive study on the emission spectra

This study systematically characterized how Nile Red fluorescence spectra vary across different polymer types, pigments, weathering states, and surface roughness, providing a more comprehensive reference for using Nile Red staining to identify microplastics in environmental samples.

2023 Research Square (Research Square) 8 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

Characterization of Nile Red-Stained Microplastics through Fluorescence Spectroscopy

This study tested a method for detecting microplastics using a fluorescent dye called Nile Red, which makes plastic particles glow under certain light. The researchers found that different types of plastic produce distinct glow patterns, which could help scientists identify what kind of plastic they are looking at. Better detection tools like this are important for tracking microplastic contamination in the environment and understanding human exposure.

2024 Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Determination of microplastics in sediment by Nile red dye

Researchers evaluated Nile red dye staining combined with fluorescent microscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and XRD analysis for identifying microplastics in Sava River sediment, finding the method useful for increasing particle visibility but insufficiently reliable on its own for complete polymer identification, with coagulation artifacts observed post-staining.

2025 Repository of the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb
Article Tier 2

Labeling Microplastics with Fluorescent Dyes for Detection, Recovery, and Degradation Experiments

Researchers optimized fluorescent dye staining protocols for labeling 17 different plastic polymer types using four textile dyes and Nile red for detection, recovery, and degradation experiments. Dye performance varied significantly by polymer type and staining conditions, and standardized protocols were recommended to improve comparability across microplastic studies.

2022 Molecules 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Analysis of selective fluorescence for the characterization of microplastic fibers: Use of a Nile Red-based analytical method to compare between natural and synthetic fibers

Researchers developed a Nile Red fluorescence method to distinguish natural from synthetic microplastic fibers, demonstrating that selective fluorescence staining combined with spectral analysis can improve identification accuracy for fiber-type microplastics across different environments.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Comprehensive assessment of factors influencing Nile red staining: Eliciting solutions for efficient microplastics analysis

Researchers conducted a comprehensive assessment of Nile red staining for microplastic analysis and found that wavelength, temperature, hydrogen peroxide treatment, NaCl addition, and plastic polymer type all significantly influence staining efficiency, proposing solutions to improve detection accuracy.

2021 Marine Pollution Bulletin 48 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

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

Dyeing to Know: Optimizing Solvents for Nile Red Fluorescence in Microplastics Analysis

Researchers investigated how the choice of solvent affects Nile Red fluorescence staining for microplastic identification, optimizing solvent conditions to improve the reliability of fluorescence-based classification of microplastic polymer types in environmental samples.

2024
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

Nile red staining in microplastic analysis—proposal for a reliable and fast identification approach for large microplastics

Researchers tested Nile red staining with UV light photography as a rapid and reliable method for identifying large microplastics in environmental samples, finding it comparable to fluorescence microscopy-based staining and confirmed by μ-Raman spectroscopy.

2019 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 87 citations
Article Tier 2

Nile Red lifetime reveals microplastic identity

Researchers developed a fluorescence lifetime imaging approach using the dye Nile Red that can distinguish microplastic particles from biological and mineral debris based on their distinct fluorescence lifetimes, offering faster and more specific microplastic identification than conventional methods.

2020 Environmental Science Processes & Impacts 63 citations
Article Tier 2

Dyeing to Know: Optimizing Solvents for Nile Red Fluorescence in Microplastics Analysis

Researchers investigated how solvent choice influences Nile Red fluorescence staining for microplastic detection, optimizing conditions for polarity-dependent fluorescence to enable more accurate polymer classification in large-scale environmental microplastic sampling.

2024
Article Tier 2

Nile Red staining for detecting microplastics in biota: Preliminary evidence

Nile Red fluorescent staining was tested for identifying microplastics in biological tissue samples, finding that it successfully highlighted plastic particles in fish guts and bivalve tissues with minimal interference from digested organic residues, supporting its use as a quick screening tool before confirmatory spectroscopy.

2021 Marine Pollution Bulletin 66 citations