Explore the Nano World
Wen's Research Group
Wen Zhang, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
Principal Investigator
Professor
Phone: (973) 596-5520
Fax: (973) 596-5790
Email: wen.zhang@njit.edu
Office Location: Colton Hall 211
Find us on the map:
- Zhang, Wen, Qi Wang, and Hao Chen. "Challenges in characterization of nanoplastics in the environment." Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 16 (2022): 1-3.
- Fu, Wanyi, Jiacheng Min, Weiyu Jiang, Yang Li, and Wen Zhang. "Separation, characterization and identification of microplastics and nanoplastics in the environment." Science of the total environment 721 (2020): 137561.
Microplastics/Nanoplastic and plastic pollution
Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. Microplastics come from a variety of sources, including from larger plastic debris that degrades into smaller and smaller pieces. In addition, microbeads, a type of microplastic, are very tiny pieces of manufactured polyethylene plastic that are added as exfoliants to health and beauty products, such as some cleansers and toothpastes. These tiny particles easily pass through water filtration systems and end up in the ocean and Great Lakes, posing a potential threat to aquatic life.
NJIT’s environmental engineering laboratory is equipped with widely used tools for analyzing microplastics such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) that is is capable of identifying particles that are 250–5 µm (0.25–0.005 mm) in size, making it useful in microplastics analysis. Moreover, the environmental engineering laboratory is also equipped with other important characterization tools such as Raman and confocal microscopes, AFM/IR