They float in the oceans, are eaten by animals and end up in our food - the tiniest plastic particles are becoming a major hazard. In September 2023, the European Commission has now adopted extensive measures to ban the sale of microplastics. And not only that. Products that contain microplastics and release them during use are also to disappear from the market. This includes all synthetic polymer particles under five millimetres that are organic, insoluble and difficult to break down. Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius emphasised that although these are very small particles, the restriction is a major step towards reducing man-made pollution.
An innovation from the University of Potsdam could help to significantly reduce such impurities in nature. Dr Marek Bekir, project manager for material and surface-sensitive particle filtration, is researching the separation and analysis of microplastics in a so-called microfluidic channel. For this process, he uses light-switchable surfactants that attach themselves to the particles - depending on their material, shape and size. The particles are then illuminated and placed in a lamellar flow, a flow that flows at different speeds in several layers. Depending on the number of surfactants around them, the individual particles are lifted to different heights in this flow. The differing flow speeds of the layers in which they move can ultimately be used to separate them from each other.
The process convinced Potsdam Transfer. The University of Potsdam's central scientific organisation for start-ups, innovation and knowledge and technology transfer selected Marek Bekir as the winner of the innovation fund so that he can further develop his system for commercial use. "This support was very helpful in gaining more visibility and a larger network," says the scientist. For his research, he experienced the funding as a "boost to new insights. Not only for separation, but also for analysing microplastics." This has now even allowed him to prepare a larger application for an ERC grant.
Potsdam Transfer quickly drew up a technology profile for the Brandenburg Economic Development Corporation in order to intensify the search for industrial partners for research and development projects. Bekir was also able to present his research at the Potsdam Entrepreneurship Experience Lab (PEELx), where ideas for a potential spin-off are developed using various creative methods. In a four-day workshop, mixed teams work on concrete business models - an experimental laboratory situation in which not only entrepreneurial thinking is encouraged, but also trying out something new.
Marek Bekir found PEELx to be "a great opportunity to think outside the box, to get to know other people and perspectives and to gain new motivation from the feedback. I can only recommend everyone to take part at least once," he summarised.
The scientist will not let the thread to Potsdam Transfer break off. "I'm delighted with the collaboration, the network, the accessibility, the research. This is exactly what is often difficult to realise alongside research, but is essential for progress." Inspired and supported by Potsdam Transfer, Marek Bekir was recently able to submit an application to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research for the DATIpilot Innovation Sprint programme. He has focussed on two specific projects: Firstly, he wants to develop a separator for separating, purifying and synthesising plastic particles. Secondly, he wants to develop an analyser that can be used on a larger scale in industry. For both, Bekir is seeking professional dialogue with companies and other research institutions. Creativity and inventiveness are at the forefront of his mind. It excites him "to develop something that doesn't exist yet," he says. "Sometimes you think about a problem and just can't stop trying to find a solution."
In everyday research, which "never lets you switch off completely", his family gives him support. Sport also helps him to recharge his batteries so that he can devote himself to his thought processes with renewed vigour. He does not see his work as being limited to the laboratory. As a researcher, it is also his job to "draw attention to topics that are barely recognised". To do this, it is important to focus even more on transfer and marketing with bold approaches "and to make science palatable to users in practice".
This article was published in the university magazine Portal Transfer 2024.