Lab glove coatings found to mimic microplastic signals in environmental tests

University of Michigan researchers found that stearate coatings on disposable nitrile and latex gloves can mimic microplastic signals in environmental samples.

Their experiments showed cleanroom gloves without stearate coatings released fewer contaminant particles than coated gloves.

Spectroscopy and electron microscopy sometimes could not distinguish stearate particles from polyethylene, which can inflate microplastic counts.

The team published methods and spectral libraries to help researchers correct glove-based contamination in existing datasets.