New Postnova publication out in Analytical Chemistry! Together with our colleagues from Technical University Munich, we proudly present the first ever online coupling of Raman Microscopy and Field-Flow Fractionation for efficient nanoplastics’ analysis.
Nanoplastic Analysis by Online Coupling of Raman Microscopy and Field-Flow Fractionation Enabled by Optical Tweezers
Christian Schwaferts Vanessa Sogne Roland Welz Florian Meier* Thorsten Klein Reinhard Niessne rMartin Elsner Natalia P. Ivleva*
Analytical Chemistry 2020, 92, 8, 5813-5820 (Article) Publication Date (Web):February 19, 2020
Nanoplastic pollution is an emerging environmental concern, but current analytical approaches are facing limitations in this size range. However, the coupling of nanoparticle separation with chemical characterization bears potential to close this gap. Here, we realize the hyphenation of particle separation/characterization (field-flow fractionation (FFF), UV, and multiangle light scattering) with subsequent chemical identification by online Raman microspectroscopy (RM). The problem of low Raman scattering was overcome by trapping particles with 2D optical tweezers. This setup enabled RM to identify particles of different materials (polymers and inorganic) in the size range from 200 nm to 5 μm, with concentrations in the order of 1 mg/L (109 particles L–1). The hyphenation was realized for asymmetric flow FFF and centrifugal FFF, which separate particles on the basis of different properties. This technique shows potential for application in nanoplastic analysis, as well as many other fields of nanomaterial characterization.
