Nanoplastics Research Powered by LVEM5
Plastic and other pollution in our oceans is of growing societal awareness. As these products break down due to sun exposure and weathering, they can release smaller pieces appropriately called microplastics and nanoplastics.
Plastic pollution is increasingly threatening our oceans.
The concern of nanoplastics in our environment and oceans is appropriately gathering increasing research attention. The world’s best scientists are studying the problem seeking to innovate solutions. Yet one of the first steps to tackling a problem is defining it correctly.
El Hadri, Gigault et al., have taken a key first step in their paper published in NanoImpact in January of this year. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452074819301156) By developing a standardizable method to provide a consistent and well-characterized test material for nanoplastics, researchers can have better intercomparison of results across studies.
Better Representative Nanoplastic Materials
When plastic degrades, it can create many different sizes of particles. It also can come from many different types of polymer sources. Previous work has used synthesized polymer beads of one polymer type and a single narrow size distribution. In the NanoImpact article, the researchers developed polydisperse particle size distributions of nanoplastics from multiple polymer sources, including actual ocean plastic that had washed onto beaches near known gyres.
Well Characterized Materials Includes TEM
A key to understanding what happens to test materials in simulated environmental exposure conditions is the initial characterization. While employing a variety of techniques always provides the most data, it is always the TEM photos researchers want to see. The authors use a Delong LVEM5 for their TEM data in their first figure, providing clear and high contrast images to visually communicate their standard nanoplastic test material.
LVEM5 Benefits
The LVEM5 is extremely easy to operate, making for efficient data collection by researchers. Standard TEM grids and sample preparation methods were used, including a very commonly used approach of drying a 5 microliter droplet onto a grid and wicking away excess water with filter paper before air drying. The LVEM5’s small footprint also enables TEM imaging to be located in the same laboratory as other instrumentation, providing cost savings, increased access, and more efficient workflows.
The Delong Instruments LVEM5
With better starting materials for nanoplastics research, it will be exciting to see what researchers uncover next while searching for knowledge in this environmentally important focus area.
References:
El Hadri, H., Gigault, J., Maxit, B., Grassl, B. and Reynaud, S. (2020). Nanoplastic from mechanically degraded primary and secondary microplastics for environmental assessments. NanoImpact, p.100206.
About the author:
Robert I. MacCuspie, Ph.D., has over twenty years of experience in nanotechnology and materials characterization, at national laboratories, academia and corporations, working at the interface of business and science.