Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul02792, Republic of Korea.
Department of Micro/Nano Systems, Korea University, Seoul02841, Republic of Korea.
ACS Nano. 2023 Feb 14;17(3):2114-2123. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.2c07933. Epub 2022 Dec 27.
Emerging as substantial concerns in the ecosystem, submicron plastics have attracted much attention for their considerable hazards. However, their effect and even amount in the environment remain unclear. Establishing a substantive analytic platform is essential to expand the understanding of nanoplastics. However, the issues of diffusion and detection limit that arise from ultradiluted concentration and extremely small scales of nanoplastics leave significant technical hurdles to analyze the nanoplastic pollutants. In this study, we obtain effective Raman signals in real time from underwater nanoplastics with ultralow concentrations AC electro-osmotic flows and dielectrophoretic tweezing. This enables the field-induced active collection of nanoplastics toward the optical sensing area from remote areas in a rapid manner, integrating conventional technical skills of preconcentration, separation, and identification in a single process. A step further, synergetic combination with plasmonic nanorods, accomplishes the highest on-site detection performance so far.
新兴的生态系统问题，亚微米塑料因其巨大危害而备受关注。然而，它们在环境中的影响甚至数量仍不清楚。建立实质性的分析平台对于扩大对纳米塑料的认识至关重要。然而，由于超稀释浓度和极其微小的纳米塑料尺度所带来的扩散和检测极限问题，对纳米塑料污染物进行分析仍存在重大技术障碍。在本研究中，我们通过 AC 电渗流和介电泳夹持获得了超低浓度水下纳米塑料的有效实时拉曼信号。这使得纳米塑料能够在电场的作用下从远离光学感应区域的地方迅速主动地向感应区域移动，将传统的浓缩、分离和识别技术集成到一个单一的过程中。更进一步的是，与等离子体纳米棒的协同组合实现了迄今为止最高的现场检测性能。
