Researchers at the University of Stuttgart have developed an “optical sieve” for detecting tiny nanoplastic particles.
Researchers at the University of Stuttgart have developed an “optical sieve” for detecting tiny nanoplastic particles. It works like a test strip and is intended to serve as a new analysis tool in environmental and health research.
A joint team from the University of Stuttgart in Germany and the University of Melbourne in Australia has developed a new method for the straightforward analysis of tiny nanoplastic particles in environmental samples. One needs only an ordinary optical microscope and a newly developed test strip—the optical sieve. The research results have now been published in “Nature Photonics” (doi: 10.1038/s41566-025-01733-x).
“The test strip can serve as a simple analysis tool in environmental and health research,” explains Prof. Harald Giessen, Head of the 4th Physics Institute of the University of Stuttgart. “In the near future, we will be working toward analyzing nanoplastic concentrations directly on site. But our new method could also be used to test blood or tissue for nanoplastic particles.”
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Image: Nanoplastic particles made visible: the newly developed test strip from the University of Stuttgart allows dangerous nanoplastic particles to be detected under a light microscope. (Image Credit: University of Stuttgart / 4th Physics Institute)
