In this paper, laser-induced fluorescence properties of four plastics were characterized through spectrometer analysis for real-time microplastic counting. Recently, environmental problems related to microplastics have emerged. In order to detect microplastics, analysis methods such as FT-IR and Raman are used. However, they have the disadvantages of being timeconsuming and requiring a pretreatment process. In most plastic products on the market, 10% to 30% of plasticizers and reinforcing agents are added. Therefore, most microplastics present in seawater and freshwater emit fluorescence signals by 270 nm UV light source regardless of their type due to their molecular structure due to additives. Real-time microplastics counting is possible more easily by using the proposed laser-induced fluorescence detection method because of the fluorescence expression characteristic of 340 nm that appears due to the plasticizer of plastics.
Synthesis of the fluorescent Au nanoclusters is reported. The Au nanoclusters were synthesized via reduction of gold ions in reverse micelles with mild reducing agents. The Au nanoclusters show a bright red emission at 640 nm. The fluorescent Au nanoclusters attract great interest for sensor, electronic device and bio-imaging applications because of ultra-small size, high chemical stablity and bright emission. We believe that the fluorescent Au nanoclusters can have optoelectronic applications such as optical down conversion phosphors.