High-Throughput Analyses of Microplastic Samples Using Fourier Transform Infrared and Raman Spectrometry
Josef Brandt, Lars Bittrich, Franziska Fischer, Elisavet Kanaki, Alexander S. Tagg, Robin Lenz, Matthias Labrenz, Elke Brandes, Dieter Fischer, Klaus‐Jochen Eichhorn
Abstract
Determining microplastics in environmental samples quickly and reliably is a challenging task. With a largely automated combination of optical particle analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and Raman microscopy along with spectral database search, particle sizes, particle size distributions, and the type of polymer including particle color can be determined. We present a self-developed, open-source software package for realizing a particle analysis approach with both Raman and FT-IR microspectroscopy. Our software GEPARD (Gepard Enabled PARticle Detection) allows for acquiring an optical image, then detects particles and uses this information to steer the spectroscopic measurement. This ultimately results in a multitude of possibilities for efficiently reviewing, correcting, and reporting all obtained results.