All-optical Mie void sensor for complex nanoplastic mixtures

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Plastic debris fragmentation poses ecological risks, infiltrating food webs and accumulating in organisms.
• Characterizing nanoplastics, especially their shape and material composition, presents significant detection challenges.
• Existing methods struggle with the simultaneous identification of nanoplastic properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel photonic sensing platform for sensitive nanoplastic detection.
• To enable simultaneous identification of nanoplastic material and morphology.
• To provide a scalable method for nanoplastic analysis in environmental settings.

Main Methods:

• Development of a photonic sensing platform utilizing nanoscale voids in a high-refractive-index material.
• Utilizing void arrays as parallel sorting elements and color reporters for particle analysis.
• Selective trapping of particles based on shape in circular and elliptical voids.

Main Results:

• Simultaneous detection of nanoplastic material and morphology for particles below 500 nm.
• Distinguishing between different polymer types and particle shapes (spherical vs. elongated).
• Demonstrated selective trapping of particles in voids matching their morphology.

Conclusions:

• The photonic sensing platform offers a scalable route for optical identification of nanoplastics.
• The technology is compatible with high-throughput analysis, enabling real-time studies.
• This approach addresses key challenges in nanoplastic characterization for environmental monitoring.