PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL DETERMINANTS OF NANOFIBER/NANOTUBE TOXICITY
Impact/Purpose:
The objective the proposed project is to carry out a carefully designed parametric study of the physical and chemical factors that underlie nanofiber/tube toxicity, in which the effects of shape, size, purity, and surface chemistry are carefully isolated by special synthesis techniques developed at Brown University.
Description:
Tubular and fibrous materials play a very special role in emerging nanotechnologies, but may show asbestos-like toxicity in humans upon inhalation. For asbestos fibers, it is known that both surface-reactive transition metals and fibrous geometry are major determinants of toxicity. Most commercial nanotubes/fibers are complex materials containing transition metal catalysts or residues and exhibiting complex distributions of length and diameter, as well as variability in defect density and surface functional groups.
Record Details:
Record Type:PROJECT(
ABSTRACT
)
Start Date:08/01/2004
Completion Date:07/31/2007
Record ID:
88873
Keywords:
HEALTH EFFECTS, HUMAN HEALTH, CARCINOGEN, CELLULAR, TOXICS, PARTICULATES, METALS, OXIDANTS, ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS MANUFACTURING, NANOTECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, PATHOLOGY, INDUSTRY,
Related Organizations:
Role
:OWNER
Organization Name
:BROWN UNIVERSITY
Mailing Address
:Prospect St
Citation
:Providence
State
:RI
Zip Code
:2912
Project Information:
Approach
:This project focuses on model carbon nanofibers and nanotubes synthesized by non-catalytic templating routes from high-purity liquid-phase precursors. This approach allows explicit control of size and shape, and the as-produced materials are essentially free of transition metal impurities. Subsequent combinations of metal doping (spiking) and surface oxidation of these pure nanocarbons will then be carried out to assess directly the effects of metals and hydrophilicity. A panel of fibrous and tubular nanocarbons will be synthesized, post-processed, and characterized, and the following toxicologic endpoints will be determined over a range of doses:(i) phagocytosis, (ii) cell toxicity, (iii) induction of proinflammatory gene expression, and (iv) genotoxicity. These short-term toxicologic assays will establish the toxicity of these nanomaterials relative to carcinogenic asbestos fibers and nontoxic titanium dioxide nanoparticles.
Cost
:$335,000.00
Research Component
:Health Effects
Approach
:
This project focuses on model carbon nanofibers and nanotubes synthesized by non-catalytic templating routes from high-purity liquid-phase precursors. This approach allows explicit control of size and shape, and the as-produced materials are essentially free of transition metal impurities. Subsequent combinations of metal doping (spiking) and surface oxidation of these pure nanocarbons will then be carried out to assess directly the effects of metals and hydrophilicity. A panel of fibrous and tubular nanocarbons will be synthesized, post-processed, and characterized, and the following toxicologic endpoints will be determined over a range of doses:(i) phagocytosis, (ii) cell toxicity, (iii) induction of proinflammatory gene expression, and (iv) genotoxicity. These short-term toxicologic assays will establish the toxicity of these nanomaterials relative to carcinogenic asbestos fibers and nontoxic titanium dioxide nanoparticles.
Cost
:$335,000.00
Research Component
:Nanotechnology
Project IDs:
ID Code
:R831719
Project type
:EPA Grant