Collecting Microplastics in Gardens: Case Study (i) of Soil

As an emerging contaminant, microplastic is receiving increasing attention. However, the contamination source is not fully known, and new sources are still being identified. Herewith, we report that microplastics can be found in our gardens, either due to the wrongdoing of leaving plastic bubble wraps to be mixed with mulches or due to the use of plastic landscape fabrics in the mulch bed. In the beginning, they were of large sizes, such as > 5 mm. However, after 7 years in the garden, owing to natural degradation, weathering, or abrasion, microplastics are released. We categorize the plastic fragments into different groups, 5 mm–0.75 mm, 0.75 mm–100 μm, and 100–0.8 μm, using filters such as kitchenware, meaning we can collect microplastics in our gardens by ourselves. We then characterized the plastics using Raman image mapping and a logic-based algorithm to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and the image certainty. This is because the signal-to-noise ratio from a single Raman spectrum, or even from an individual peak, is significantly less than that from a spectrum matrix of Raman mapping (such as 1 vs. 50 × 50) that contains 2,500 spectra, from the statistical point of view. From the 10 g soil we sampled, we could detect the microplastics, including large (5 mm–100 μm) fragments and small (<100 μm) ones, suggesting the degradation fate of plastics in the gardens. Overall, these results warn us that we must be careful when we do gardening, including selection of plastic items for gardens.

Wide Field Spectral Imaging with Shifted Excitation Raman Difference Spectroscopy Using the Nod and Shuffle Technique

Wide field Raman imaging using the integral field spectroscopy approach was used as a fast, one shot imaging method for the simultaneous collection of all spectra composing a Raman image. For the suppression of autofluorescence and background signals such as room light, shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS) was applied to remove background artifacts in Raman spectra. To reduce acquisition times in wide field SERDS imaging, we adapted the nod and shuffle technique from astrophysics and implemented it into a wide field SERDS imaging setup. In our adapted version, the nod corresponds to the change in excitation wavelength, whereas the shuffle corresponds to the shifting of charges up and down on a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) chip synchronous to the change in excitation wavelength. We coupled this improved wide field SERDS imaging setup to diode lasers with 784.4/785.5 and 457.7/458.9 nm excitation and applied it to samples such as paracetamol and aspirin tablets, polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate beads, as well as pork meat using multiple accumulations with acquisition times in the range of 50 to 200 ms. The results tackle two main challenges of SERDS imaging: gradual photobleaching changes the autofluorescence background, and multiple readouts of CCD detector prolong the acquisition time.

SEM–Raman image cytometry of cells

Hybrid SEM–Raman microscopy to distinguish individual human cells.

In situ Raman mapping of art objects

Raman spectroscopy has grown to be one of the techniques of interest for the investigation of art objects. The approach has several advantageous properties, and the non-destructive character of the technique allowed it to be used for in situ investigations. However, compared with laboratory approaches, it would be useful to take advantage of the small spectral footprint of the technique, and use Raman spectroscopy to study the spatial distribution of different compounds. In this work, an in situ Raman mapping system is developed to be able to relate chemical information with its spatial distribution. Challenges for the development are discussed, including the need for stable positioning and proper data treatment. To avoid focusing problems, nineteenth century porcelain cards are used to test the system. This work focuses mainly on the post-processing of the large dataset which consists of four steps: (i) importing the data into the software; (ii) visualization of the dataset; (iii) extraction of the variables; and (iv) creation of a Raman image. It is shown that despite the challenging task of the development of the full in situ Raman mapping system, the first steps are very promising. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Raman spectroscopy in art and archaeology’.