New and simple detection method for nanoplastics

The “optical sieve” works like a test strip

10-Sep-2025 - 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 ...

New Method for Detecting Nanoplastics in Body Fluids

TU Graz and start-up BRAVE Analytics have developed a method for detecting nanoplastics in liquids and determining their composition

16-Apr-2025 - Microplastics and the much smaller nanoplastics enter the human body in various ways, for example through food or the air we breathe. A large proportion is excreted, but a certain amount remains in organs, blood and other body fluids. In the FFG bridge project Nano-VISION, which was launched two ...

AI speeds up nanoparticle research

Massive time saving

14-Feb-2025 - A team of researchers at the University of Konstanz has succeeded in adapting an AI system to reliably assist with making nanoparticle measurements which speeds up the research process significantly. Nanoparticle researchers spend most of their time on one thing: counting and measuring ...

Particle surface properties and their understanding - a trend also among young scientists

Three candidates nominated for the LUM Science Prize YSA in June 2024

17-Apr-2024 - On June 10th and 11th, 2024, LUM GmbH will be hosting the 11th International Conference on Dispersion Analysis and Material Testing (ICDAMT 2024) in Berlin. Prof. Dr. Dr. Lerche, Chairman of the Scientific Committee and LUM Managing Director: “Since 2014, we have been advertising the Young ...

Bottled water can contain hundreds of thousands of previously uncounted tiny plastic bits

A new microscopic technique zeroes in on the poorly explored world of nanoplastics, which can pass into blood, cells and your brain

11-Jan-2024 - In recent years, there has been rising concern that tiny particles known as microplastics are showing up basically everywhere on Earth, from polar ice to soil, drinking water and food. Formed when plastics break down into progressively smaller bits, these particles are being consumed by humans ...

Observing nanoparticles with unprecedented precision

Illuminated: Researchers investigate new physical phenomena on the nanoscale with microstructured fibers

15-Sep-2023 - Researchers at Leibniz IPHT have succeeded in contributing to significant advances in deciphering tiny nanoobjects: Using special optical fibers, they identified a new optical mode that enables uniform illumination along the entire length of the fiber, and determined the resolution limit of ...

Tracing invisible particles

Automated analysis of microplastics

28-Jul-2023 - How high are concentrations of microplastics in the environment, in our drinking water or in foods? Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed an automated analysis method for the identification and quantification of particles. Microplastics are everywhere in the ...

Detecting nanoplastics – in fractions of a second

Basis for new measurement devices

19-Jul-2023 - Tiny plastic particles are an environmental problem. They can even penetrate living cells. A method has now been developed at TU Wien to detect such particles quickly and with high sensitivity. It is well known that microplastics are a problem: They are tiny, barely visible plastic particles that ...

European project investigates sustainability of the material of the future graphene

New characterisation methods to enable an accurate assessment and prediction of the effects on humans and the environment

10-May-2023 - A new EU research project in which the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) is playing a leading role is investigating the safe and sustainable use of the versatile nanomaterial graphene. BAM is developing new characterisation methods in its competence centre nano@BAM to enable ...

First comparative study on automated analysis methods of large data sets in microplastics research

27-Mar-2023 - The lack of uniform analytical standards currently prevents the comparability of data on microplastics in the environment. Researchers from the University of Bayreuth and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have now, for the first time, compared two ...