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Novel Sensor for the Identification and Quantitation of Engineered Nanomaterials
Citation:
Sadik, O. A., S. Kikandi, Q. Wang, AND K. E. VARNER. Novel Sensor for the Identification and Quantitation of Engineered Nanomaterials. Presented at Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Goteborg, SWEDEN, May 31 - June 04, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation
Description:
According to the US-National Nanotechnology initiative (NNI), nanomaterials encompass a wide variety of materials that have at least one dimension in the 1-to 100-nm range. One major aspect of the NNI is the need to develop useful approaches to identify and categorize nanomaterials by size, composition, and morphology1,2. In order to evaluate the effects of nanomaterials on the environment and human health, considerable knowledge of the nature and properties of the nanomaterials is required. Relevant properties that could be measured include characteristics as purity, particle size and distribution, shape, crystal structure, composition, surface area, surface chemistry, surface charge, surface activity, and porosity2. In that respect, a broad array of analytical tools and methods are needed to perform such characterizations, including a variety of optical, microscopic, spectroscopic, chromatographic and nuclear methods. Conventional methods for assessing the properties and characteristics of raw nanomaterial focus on the size distribution and effects. They are however unsuitable for environmental monitoring involving detection and quantification. Hence the creation of new instruments or approaches, or further development of existing tools are necessary to obtain these underlying information and hence its resulting effects on human health and the environment. Thus the relative lack of basic scientific information and/or analytical tools on nanoscale materials as well as their effects on human health and the environment poses significant challenges for regulatory reviews. This presentation will focus on the development of a novel Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM)-based sensor for fullerenes. The sensor should be capable of distinguishing between engineered nanomaterials (e.g. hybrid organic metal nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials), and naturally occurring nanomaterials (e.g. dead bacteria, living bacteria, spores, viral components, or fungi) that may be present in the environment.