Microplastics are highly pervasive contaminants in all environmental matrices: air, water, and soil, which have only recently risen to the forefront of public health concerns. The first step for contamination mitigation is to define the scope of contamination through quantification and detection. However, existing traditional methods for isolating and counting microplastics from environmental samples vary widely in efficiency and ease. This paper introduces a novel combination of mobile phone microscope and Nile Red ultraviolet staining to identify and quantify microplastic contamination. Our unique technology can effectively detect microplastics as small as 6 microns, and has a higher efficiency compared to traditional manual counting techniques. This technology, while still utilizing traditional staining techniques, offers a feasible, rapid, and mobile methodology for widespread and on-site detection of microplastic detection by simultaneously eliminating hours of labor and not just retaining- but improving- the precision and accuracy of resulting data.

Rapid detection of microplastics using mobile phone technology

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.