Design, fabrication and demonstration of an optofluidic chip for characterizing microplastics

Microplastic pollution is possibly one of the greatest environmental problems facing our lives. Current state-of-the-art systems for measurement and analysis of microplastics are bulky, mainly non-portable and expensive. In search of reliable, low-cost and disposable devices for the detection of microplastic particles in beverage samples, I aim to design and fabricate a compact system based on a multimodal optofluidic chip combining different optical measurement techniques such as diffuse reflection spectroscopy, scattering and Raman spectroscopy. My work is situated in the framework of the EU-funded ITN project with acronym MONPLAS (The training of early-stage researchers for the development of technologies to MONitor concentrations of micro and nanoPLAStics in water for their presence, uptake and threat to animal and human life). The detection concerns the identification of the present plastic types together with their respective concentrations. A proof of concept set-up of the developed system demonstrating the online monitoring of microplastic particles in water samples is the major expected accomplishment of this project.