A review of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for plastic analysis

With the extensive use of plastic in our daily lives, the increasing requirements for disposal and quality control of plastic products raise more concerns. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has the advantages of requiring little or no sample pretreatment and being high-speed and minimally invasive. The combination of LIBS and analytical chemistry methods has become an efficient method of plastic analysis. This review provides a comprehensive overview of LIBS instruments used for plastic analysis, discrimination among different types of plastics, and the qualitative and quantitative analysis of plastic. Furthermore, applications of plastic are reviewed, including in toys, food containers, e-waste, etc. Finally, limitations and the potential developing trend for the topic are proposed. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.