Hyperspectral TERS Imaging Reveals Strain Heterogeneity in Individual Nanoplastic Particles.

ABSTRACT: Nanoplastics pose growing environmental and health risks, yet their label-free, nondestructive detection and characterization, especially at the single-particle level, remain challenging. Here, we deploy AFM-based tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (AFM-TERS) to chemically characterize individual polystyrene (PS) nanoplastic particles via hyperspectral imaging under ambient conditions. TERS spectra from nanoparticles as small as 32 nm establish reliable single-particle sensitivity beyond the optical diffraction limit. Furthermore, hyperspectral TERS maps reveal pronounced intraparticle heterogeneity, reflected spatially as varying red-/blue-shifts of PS marker bands with broad frequency distributions, without any systematic dependence on particle size. Correlative AFM phase imaging exposes na

SUBMITTER: Dutta A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12751103 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature