This Sept. 24, 2020, photo shows waste piled up at a city-run recycling center in the southwestern port city of Busan. (Yonhap)
DAEJEON, March 31 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean researchers have announced the development of a new device that can measure plastic particles in water that are only nanometers in size.
Researchers from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology announced Tuesday that they had developed optoelectronic tweezers that can capture small particles underwater and conduct a real-time analysis.
Nanoplastics exist in rivers and the sea, at extremely low levels of concentration, and it has been difficult to measure their concentration levels in real time with current technology.
The research team developed electronic tweezers that can capture particles that are only nanometers in size.
The tweezers are combined with an optical sensor that uses a terahertz wave, a highly sensitive wave that vibrates 1 trillion times per second, to measure the concentration level of small particles in the water.
Terahertz waves are harmless to the human body and more permeable than X-rays. However, they are easily absorbed by water, making it difficult to use them for underwater measurements.
The research team developed a sensor system that reflects water to prevent the waves from being absorbed into the water, and amplified the signal to maximize the wave’s sensitivity.
The electronic tweezers that can capture nano-particles, coupled with the optical sensor that uses amplified terahertz waves, succeeded in capturing and measuring extremely low amounts of small particles in water.
The new technology is expected to be used for the extraction of biomarkers, measurable indicators of a biological condition, from the human body.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
