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Characterization of silver nanoparticles spray disinfectant products using asymmetrical flow field flow fractionation (FFF2018 Presentation)
Citation:
Navratilova, J., K. Rogers, K. Bradham, AND C. Nelson. Characterization of silver nanoparticles spray disinfectant products using asymmetrical flow field flow fractionation (FFF2018 Presentation). 19th International Symposium on Field- and Flow-based Separations, Columbia, SC, May 14 - 17, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
There are a wide range of consumer products that contain colloidal silver (defined as a suspension of particles ranging in size from 1 nm to 1 µm). Many of these products are likely to contain particles in the nanometer size range (1 nm to 100 nm). Given the potential for inhalation exposure of silver nanoparticles from spray disinfectant products, we analyzed 22 commercial products which advertised the use of silver or colloidal silver as the active ingredient. A number of the product suspensions showed the presence of nano-sized silver-containing particles, while other products contained only soluble silver or no measurable silver at all. Characterization of these suspensions is an important step in better understanding the population risks for inhalation exposure to nano-silver particles from consumer spray products.
Description:
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are incorporated in a variety of consumer products including clothing, household items, cosmetic and dietary supplements. Their extended use stems from their antimicrobial properties. In this context we analyzed 22 consumer products which advertised the use of silver or colloidal silver as the active antimicrobial ingredient without providing any nanospecific information; such as particle size or particle number concentration. Basic characterization of the nano-scale silver included determination of total silver concentration by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) after acid digestion, assessment of the ionic fraction by ultrafiltration and measurement of particle hydrodynamic diameter using Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The size, morphology and elemental composition of nanoparticles were observed by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Single particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (spICPMS) was also used to determine particle number concentration. Most of the investigated products showed high degree of polydispersity and the analysis especially of the size distribution by DLS and NTA techniques was biased towards larger particle size. The use of asymmetrical flow field flow fractionation (AF4) in combination with UV/Vis detection allowed for advance characterization of the products which yielded additional information concerning the particle populations present in the samples.
