Microplastics and nanoplastics — tiny fragments shed from everyday plastic products — are increasingly found in our food, water, soil and even inside the human body. Their accumulation has been linked to fertility issues, metabolic disorders and other potential health risks in animal models. Yet detecting these pollutants has remained a time-consuming challenge.
To combat this challenge, researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers have developed a powerful new method that can detect microplastics and nanoplastics in as little as 10 seconds, using a streamlined approach called Flame Ionization Mass Spectrometry (FI-MS).
The research, recently published in Journal of Hazardous Materials, shows that the technique can detect sub-microgram levels of plastic pollution in a wide range of samples, including bottled water, apple juice, agricultural soil and biological tissue. In one striking example, the team identified polystyrene nanoplastics in mouse placental tissue — a feat typically requiring complex chemical digestion and separation. To read the full story.