Detection of small plastic particles in environmental water samples has been a topic of increasing interest in recent years. A multitude of techniques, such as variants of Raman spectroscopy, have been employed to facilitate their analysis in such complex sample matrices. However, these studies are often conducted for a limited number of plastic types in matrices with relatively little additional materials. Thus, much remains unknown about what parameters influence the detection limits of Raman spectroscopy for more environmentally relevant samples. To address this, this study utilizes Raman spectroscopy to detect six plastic particle types; 161 and 33 nm polystyrene, < 450 nm and 36 nm poly(ethylene terephthalate), 121 nm polypropylene, and 126 nm polyethylene; spiked into artificial saltwater, artificial freshwater, North Sea, Thames River, and Elbe River water. Overall, factors such as plastic particle properties, water matrix composition, and experimental setup were shown to influence the final limits of detection.

中文翻译：

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使用拉曼光谱检测环境淡水和盐水中添加的亚微米和纳米塑料


近年来，检测环境水样中的小塑料颗粒已成为人们日益关注的话题。多种技术，例如拉曼光谱的变体，已被用来促进在如此复杂的样品基质中的分析。然而，这些研究通常是针对基质中有限数量的塑料类型进行的，并且附加材料相对较少。因此，对于与环境相关的样品，哪些参数会影响拉曼光谱的检测限，目前仍不清楚。为了解决这个问题，本研究利用拉曼光谱来检测六种塑料颗粒类型； 161 和 33 nm 聚苯乙烯、< 450 nm 和 36 nm 聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯、121 nm 聚丙烯和 126 nm 聚乙烯；掺入人工咸水、人工淡水、北海、泰晤士河和易北河水中。总体而言，塑料颗粒特性、水基质成分和实验设置等因素会影响最终的检测限。