Issue 2, 2022

Nanowell-enhanced Raman spectroscopy enables the visualization and quantification of nanoplastics in the environment

Abstract

Nanoplastics are persistent pollutants that can cause severe toxicity to mammals. To date, no technology could simultaneously capture nanoplastic chemical and morphological information while conducting quantitative detection. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has shown outstanding performance in trace pollutant detection in addition to providing morphological information. Despite these capabilities, physical changes originating from distribution discrepancies of nanoplastics coming into contact with a SERS substrate yield poor reliability. Herein, by exploiting the coffee ring effect, we develop a novel nanowell-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (NWERS) substrate composed of self-assembled SiO2 sputtered with silver films (SiO2 PC@Ag). Under the coffee ring effect, numerous robust nanowells that can trap nanoplastics are formed, providing a uniform testing environment for nanoplastics. Surprisingly, single polystyrene nanoplastic particles down to 200 nm can be directly visualized on the NWERS substrates and a LOD of 5 ppm was achieved in bottled water, tap water, and river water. The newly developed NWERS methodology opens a way for ultra-highly consistent SERS substrate engineering and has great potential in nanoplastic detection.

Graphical abstract: Nanowell-enhanced Raman spectroscopy enables the visualization and quantification of nanoplastics in the environment

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Oct 2021
Accepted
20 Dec 2021
First published
20 Dec 2021

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2022,9, 542-553

Nanowell-enhanced Raman spectroscopy enables the visualization and quantification of nanoplastics in the environment

L. Chang, S. Jiang, J. Luo, J. Zhang, X. Liu, C. Lee and W. Zhang, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2022, 9, 542 DOI: 10.1039/D1EN00945A

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