Liquid crystal-driven interfacial ordering of microplastics: Advancing microplastics characterization below the macro-scale

Global research efforts have developed methods for the detection and characterization of millimeter and larger plastic particles in the environment, but detecting and characterizing micrometer-scale and smaller plastic particles (microplastics or MPs) remains an unresolved challenge. MPs are difficult to characterize because they are small, have chemically heterogeneous surfaces that are transformed by environmental weathering, and are often accompanied by colloidal organic matter. Here, we advance the characterization of mixtures of MPs in the micrometer size range by leveraging their spontaneous adsorption and self-organization at liquid crystal (LC)-aqueous interfaces. We show that surface-sensitive interparticle interactions mediated by the LC can drive mixtures of colloidal MPs into unique assembly patterns that are accurately recognized using computer vision approaches. In particular, we show that we can identify MP composition (polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate) in complex ..., , # Liquid crystal-driven interfacial ordering of microplastics: Advancing microplastics characterization below the macro-scale

Dryad DOI: [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qfttdz0vv](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qfttdz0vv)

This repository contains code examples and four image/video datasets for microplastic assembly activity analysis.

* deepPolyNet_(1).ipynb
* GradCAM___High_Throughput_(1).ipynb
* Morphology_ML_Analysis_(1).ipynb
* Multi-label_classificaiton_(1).ipynb
* PS-PMMA_dataset.zip

PS-PMMA Project includes essential image datasets and code for analyzing PS-PMMA microplastic assembly patterns. Due to file size constraints, the complete image dataset is available via a separate Google Drive link. We have shown the example images in the repo. The dataset comprises 8,400 images distributed across 42 distinct classes, with 200 images per class. Each class is defined by a unique combination of four experimental conditions:

1. Concentration: 0 (control, no microplastic), 20, 200, 400...,