Zhang Yajun, Zhang Mengmeng, Fan Yiqiang
College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.
State Key Laboratory of Organic/Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.
Environ Geochem Health. 2023 Mar;45(3):1045-1052. doi: 10.1007/s10653-022-01262-4. Epub 2022 Apr 4.
Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than 5 mm, and microplastics have gradually become a severe environmental pollution source that exists in the atmosphere. The identification and quantification of microplastic particles are challenging, current approaches require expensive instruments and are usually time-consuming. In this study, a microfluidic method was introduced to detect and count microplastics using a polymer-based microfluidic chip. Microplastic particles were stained with Nile red, dispersed in the carrier fluid and passed through the microchannel. A fluorescence microscope filmed the whole process as microplastic particles passed through the microchannel. Finally, the software automatically analyzed the video footage for the microplastic particle counting and size analysis. The entire process is fully automated for microplastic particle counting and is much more efficient than the current manual counting method. The proposed study may have broad application potentials in the environmental field.
微塑料是指直径小于5毫米的塑料颗粒，微塑料已逐渐成为大气中存在的严重环境污染源。微塑料颗粒的识别和定量分析具有挑战性，目前的方法需要昂贵的仪器，而且通常耗时较长。在本研究中，引入了一种微流控方法，使用基于聚合物的微流控芯片来检测和计数微塑料。微塑料颗粒用尼罗红染色，分散在载液中并通过微通道。当微塑料颗粒通过微通道时，荧光显微镜拍摄了整个过程。最后，软件自动分析视频片段以进行微塑料颗粒计数和尺寸分析。整个过程实现了微塑料颗粒计数的完全自动化，比目前的手动计数方法效率高得多。本研究所提出的方法在环境领域可能具有广泛的应用潜力。
