In this work, we employ an optical trapping-Raman spectroscopy technique for simultaneous characterization and
monitoring of the physical and chemical properties of single small micro-plastics in a seawater environment. Through
analysis of the data, we chemically identify the plastic and distinguish it from organic matter and/or mineral sediments.
Additionally, we categorize the particles based on their size and shapes such as beads, fragments, and fibers. The
proposed technique paves the way to understand the fragmentation process of aged polymers, as well as to monitoring
marine plastic pollution.
Marine plastic debris is a widely recognized environmental issue. By employing an optical micro-Raman tweezers setup, we have identified the composition of particles trapped in marine aggregates collected from the coastal surface waters around the subtropical island of Okinawa, Japan. This chemical identification of small microplas- tics at the single-particle level contributes to extending our knowledge of plastic pollution in the ocean around a Blue Zone region.
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