Sub-micron IR spectroscopy for measurement of microplastics

Closeup of a single cell representing the use of the mIRage on sub cellular scale material analysis

Microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment and understanding their impact on health and the environment is currently an urgent scientific and political goal

OPTIR provides accurate measurement of a wide range of critical <20um microplastics that are poorly resolved by other IR techniques

OPTIR overcomes many of the limitations of Raman for microplastics measurement but provide complementary and confirmatory results

Co-located O-PTIR and fluorescence provides a unique combination to quickly identify specific microplastics types and provide sub-micron IR spectra

Simultaneous OPTIR and Raman spectra of MP particles with the O-PTIR instrument is a superior approach for material identification in terms of throughput than two standalone instruments

Download more information here:

PDF: Sub-micron IR and Raman spectroscopy for chemical identification of microplastics

Webinar: View our microplastics webinar

Publication: OPTIR for 2 dimensional microplastics Identification

Automated sub-micron IR and µchemID of particles and micro-plastics

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Automated measurement and chemical ID of microplastics from sub-micron to millimeters

Measures large numbers of microplastics and particles

Automatic search and selection of particles

Automatic measurement and chemID

Many IR and Raman based applications require the measurement of small particles, often numbering in the hundreds if not thousands of particles. Most notably, such applications include microplastic identification and the characterization of other particles, such as environmental aerosols, pharmaceutical nasal sprays, and organic contaminants.

Optical Photothermal Infrared spectroscopy (O-PTIR) on the mIRage and mIRage-LS accurately measure and chemically identify particles and micro-plastics from sub-micron to mm’s in size, overcoming the limitations of conventional FTIR and Raman techniques.

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Microplastics

Fluorescence imaging + O-PTIR of microplastics

Fluorescence tagging of polymeric beads can help to isolate the polymer particles from other particles for measurement with O-PTIR, thus dramatically speeding up analysis

Sub-micron IR+Raman microplastics

mIRage locates PS (0.9 µm, 2.0 µm, 4.5 µm and 10 µm) and PMMA beads (3.0 µm) in salt crystal mixture in hi-res IR images at key absorption bands. Distortion free spectra, even amongst salt crystals at hotspots, confirm the identity of the microplastics and readily searched against IR database. Importantly, and unlike traditional FTIR/QCL systems, spectra are consistent, regardless of particle shape or size when measured in reflection mode – no dispersive scatter artefacts.

Microplastics contamination in oceans and waterways

An emerging environmental concern especially for ocean/aquatic life is microplastics pollution. With research continuing to increase to assess the potential harmful affects to aquatic life and the food chain, accurate characterization and identification of microplastics is becoming critical. Microplastics are small plastic microscopic particles and fibers that range from 1micron to 5mm. Microplastics have been found in virtually all environments, from waterways, to wastewater, to the air we breathe and the food we eat. Owing to their small sizes (1 micron to 5mm) their accurate identification and morphological characterization can be challenging. O-PTIR, with its ability to measure submicron particles and fibers of varied sizes in far field reflection mode to yield FTIR transmission-like spectral quality regardless of particle shape and size, makes it the ideal technique for microplastics/particulate characterization. When coupled with simultaneous Raman (IR+Raman), it becomes an even more powerful tool that brings together the best of IR and Raman into a single measurement, for more thorough and accurate characterization for microplastics contaminants.

O-PTIR image and spectra of PS and PMMA dispersed in saline

O-PTIR image and spectra of polystyrene and Polymethylmethacrylate dispersed in saline solution.

mIRage locates PS (0.9 µm, 2.0 µm, 4.5 µm and 10 µm) and PMMA beads (3.0 µm) in salt crystal mixture in hi-res IR images at key absorption bands. Distortion free spectra, even amongst salt crystals at hotspots, confirm the identity of the microplastics and readily searched against IR database. Importantly, and unlike traditional FTIR/QCL systems, spectra are consistent, regardless of particle shape or size when measured in reflection mode – no dispersive scatter artefacts.