ORCID Profile
0000-0002-3526-6613
Current Organisation
The University of Newcastle
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Environmental Engineering | Wastewater Treatment Processes | Electrochemistry | Environmental Technologies
Expanding Knowledge in the Environmental Sciences | Expanding Knowledge in the Chemical Sciences | Physical and Chemical Conditions of Water in Fresh, Ground and Surface Water Environments (excl. Urban and Industrial Use) |
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2022.120073
Abstract: Raman imaging can effectively characterise microplastics and nanoplastics, which is validated here to capture the items released from the plastic gloves when subjected to a mimicked fire. During the COVID-19 pandemic, large quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE) units have been used, such as the disposable gloves. If discarded and poorly managed, plastics gloves might break down to release secondary contaminants. The breakdown process can be accelerated by burning in a bushfire or at the incineration plants. During the burning process, the functional groups on the surface can be burned differently due to their different thermal stabilities. The different degrees of burning can be distinguished and visualised via Raman imaging. In the meantime, at the bottom of the burned plastics, microplastics and nanoplastics can be generated at a significant amount. The possible false Raman imaging on microplastics and nanoplastics is also discussed, by effectively extracting and distinguishing the weak signal from the background or noise. Overall, these findings confirm the importance of effectively working waste incineration plants and litter prevention, and suggest that Raman imaging is a suitable approach to characterise microplastics and nanoplastics.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2022.158293
Abstract: The characterisation of microplastics is still difficult, and the challenge is even greater for nanoplastics. A possible source of these particles is the scratched surface of a non-stick cooking pot that is mainly coated with Teflon. Herein we employ Raman imaging to scan the surfaces of different non-stick pots and collect spectra as spectrum matrices, akin to a hyperspectral imaging process. We adjust and optimise different algorithms and create a new hybrid algorithm to extract the extremely weak signal of Teflon microplastics and particularly nanoplastics. We use multiple characteristic peaks of Teflon to create several images, and merge them to one, using a logic-based algorithm (i), in order to cross-check them and to increase the signal-noise ratio. To differentiate the varied peak heights towards image merging, an algebra-based algorithm (ii) is developed to process different images with weighting factors. To map the images via the whole set of the spectrum (not just from the in idual characteristic peaks), a principal component analysis (PCA)-based algorithm (iii) is employed to orthogonally decode the spectrum matrix to the PCA spectrum and PCA intensity image. To effectively extract the Teflon spectrum information, a new hybrid algorithm is developed to justify the PCA spectra and merge the PCA intensity images with the algebra-based algorithm (PCA/algebra-based algorithm) (iv). Based on these developments and with the help of SEM, we estimate that thousands to millions of Teflon microplastics and nanoplastics might be released during a mimic cooking process. Overall, it is recommended that Raman imaging, along with the signal recognition algorithms, be combined with SEM to characterise and quantify microplastics and nanoplastics.
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 21-06-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2022.120737
Abstract: Numerous plastic items are known to gradually degrade and release microplastics and nanoplastics under certain conditions, which can be significantly accelerated by fire combustion. Unfortunately there is a limited knowledge about this burning process because the characterisation on microplastics and nanoplastics is still a challenge. In this study, an outdoor plastic chair is subjected to a combustion process, the change in the surface functional groups (due to different degree of burning) and the release of microplastics and nanoplastics are investigated. During the combustion process, the plastic is molten, burned and deposited on solid surfaces including concrete, stone and glass. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results show that the peeling off the deposited plastic generates a large number of fragments. Through Raman imaging, these fragments are characterised as polypropylene (PP) microplastics and nanoplastics due to appearance of characteristic peaks. To further increase the sensitivity, several algorithms are tested and optimised, including logic-based, non-supervised principal component analysis (PCA)-based, algebra-based and their hybrids (to intentionally correct the non-supervised PCA) to enable the effective extraction of the key information towards plastics characterisation, particularly by distinguishing the signal from the background noise towards the visualisation of the different degrees of burning. Based on the findings from Raman imaging and SEM, it is estimated that tens of microplastics and nanoplastics are created per μm
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2022
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1039/D3AY01176C
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2022.118857
Abstract: The characterisation of nanoplastics is much more difficult than that of microplastics. Herewith we employ Raman imaging to capture and visualise nanoplastics and microplastics, due to the increased signal-noise ratio from Raman spectrum matrix when compared with that from a single spectrum. The images mapping multiple characteristic peaks can be merged into one using logic-based algorithm, in order to cross-check these images and to further increase the signal-noise ratio. We demonstrate how to capture and identify microplastics, and then zoom down gradually to visualise nanoplastics, in order to avoid the shielding effect of the microplastics to shadow and obscure the nanoplastics. We also carefully compare the advantages and disadvantages of Raman imaging, while giving recommendations for improvement. We validate our approach to capture the microplastics and nanoplastics as particles released when we cut and assemble PVC pipes in our garden. We estimate that, during a cutting process of the PVC pipe, thousands of microplastics in the range of 0.1-5 mm can be released, along with millions of small microplastics in the range of 1-100 μm, and billions of nanoplastics in the range of <1 μm. Overall, Raman imaging can effectively capture microplastics and nanoplastics.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2023
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 03-02-2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.ACA.2019.05.021
Abstract: Recently, microplastics (MP) have emerged as global contaminants of serious concern to human and ecological health. However, identification and visualisation of MP are still a challenge, whether from wastewater, oceans, sediment or soil. Particularly when MP are mapped to visualise their distribution, the background signal from sediment and soil might be high and shield the MP signal from the analysis. Raman has recently received increasing attention, as the complementary spectrum of infrared (IR), because it can overcome the drawbacks of IR analysis including water interference, low lateral resolution and a complex spectrum. Here we show that Raman can identify and visualise MP from a soil/sand background, with almost no s le preparation, no dye, no destruction of the s le and no interference from water/organic matter/fluorescence background signals as well. By mapping image via their characteristic and fingerprint peaks, MP including polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polypropylene (PP) can be in idually identified and visualised. The lateral resolution along the focal plane is 1 μm ixel to catch small MP down to 1 μm.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHEMOSPHERE.2018.11.206
Abstract: Whilst advanced electrochemical oxidation can break down per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the requirement for expensive electrode materials usually prevents its widespread application. Here we use an industrial material of lead peroxide (PbO
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2022
Start Date: 07-2020
End Date: 12-2024
Amount: $589,007.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity