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Identification of microplastics by FTIR and Raman microscopy: a novel silicon filter substrate opens the important spectral range below 1300 cm−1 for FTIR transmission measurements

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Abstract

The presence of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems is a topical problem and leads to the need of appropriate and reliable analytical methods to distinctly identify and to quantify these particles in environmental samples. As an example transmission, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) imaging can be used to analyze samples directly on filters without any visual presorting, when the environmental sample was afore extracted, purified, and filtered. However, this analytical approach is strongly restricted by the limited IR transparency of conventional filter materials. Within this study, we describe a novel silicon (Si) filter substrate produced by photolithographic microstructuring, which guarantees sufficient transparency for the broad mid-infrared region of 4000–600 cm-1. This filter type features holes with a diameter of 10 μm and exhibits adequate mechanical stability. Furthermore, it will be shown that our Si filter substrate allows a distinct identification of the most common microplastics, polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP), in the characteristic fingerprint region (1400–600 cm-1). Moreover, using the Si filter substrate, a differentiation of microparticles of polyesters having quite similar chemical structure, like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), is now possible, which facilitates a visualization of their distribution within a microplastic sample by FTIR imaging. Finally, this Si filter can also be used as substrate for Raman microscopy—a second complementary spectroscopic technique—to identify microplastic samples.

Optical and FTIR images of a microplastic model sample of PET and PBT on the novel Si filter substrate. The distribution of this quite similar polymers within a microplastic sample is visible by choosing a band region of 1060–1033 cm-1 for PET and of 955–925 cm-1 for PBT

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Acknowledgments

We thank Vincent Körber (IPF) and the construction team for technical support and Dr. Cordelia Zimmerer (IPF) for helpful discussion regarding FTIR imaging. The authors also would like to thank Rene Puschmann, Michael Lorenz, Tina Klembt, and Dr. Frank Menzel from Fraunhofer IZM-ASSID for assistance with manufacturing of the Si filter substrate. We are also grateful to Dr. Sonja Oberbeckmann (Leibniz IOW), Dr. Gunnar Gerdts (AWI, Helgoland), and Prof. Christian Laforsch (University of Bayreuth) for helpful discussion. Finally, we thank the Leibniz Association for financial support of the project “MikrOMIK.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Hohe Str. 6, 01069, Dresden, Germany

    Andrea Käppler, Mikhail Malanin, Dieter Fischer, Klaus-Jochen Eichhorn & Brigitte Voit

  2. Organic Chemistry of Polymers, TU Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany

    Andrea Käppler, Frank Windrich & Brigitte Voit

  3. Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration - All Silicon System Integration Dresden, Ringstraße 12, 01468, Moritzburg, Germany

    Frank Windrich

  4. Animal Ecology I, University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Martin G. J. Löder

  5. Leibniz Institute of Baltic Sea Research, Seestraße 15, 18119, Rostock, Germany

    Matthias Labrenz

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  1. Andrea Käppler
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Correspondence to Andrea Käppler.

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Käppler, A., Windrich, F., Löder, M.G.J. et al. Identification of microplastics by FTIR and Raman microscopy: a novel silicon filter substrate opens the important spectral range below 1300 cm−1 for FTIR transmission measurements. Anal Bioanal Chem 407, 6791–6801 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-015-8850-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-015-8850-8

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