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Dissolution of silver nanoparticles in colloidal consumer products: effects of particle size and capping agent
Citation:
Radwan, I., A. Gitipour, P. Potter, D. Dionysiou, AND Souhail R. Al-Abed. Dissolution of silver nanoparticles in colloidal consumer products: effects of particle size and capping agent. Journal of Nanoparticle Research. Springer SBM, New York, NY, 21:155, (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-019-4597-z
Impact/Purpose:
The utilization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in consumer products has significantly increased in recent decades, mainly due to their antimicrobial properties. This increase in utilization raises ecological concerns about the consequences of the release of AgNPs into the environment. Once released into an aquatic environment, AgNPs undergo oxidative dissolution leading to the generation of Ag+, which may severely impact the environment. Therefore, it is critical to investigate the ecotoxicological potential of AgNPs and determine the physicochemical parameters that control their dissolution behavior in aquatic environments. In order to address this research need, we investigated the dissolution pattern in deionized water, as a pristine medium in which the Ag+ may be dissolved, and tap water, as the most common media in which the consumer products will interact with as a result of their application, of aqueous colloidal AgNPs in consumer products marketed as health supplements and surface sanitizers. The obtained dissolution patterns compared to the dissolution patterns of well-known capped laboratory-synthesized nanomaterials. All AgNP suspensions (consumer products and laboratory-synthesized) were shown to have the potential to persist in deionized and tap water for up to one month. This persistence of AgNPs could lead to longer lifetime or increased transport into the environment. Also, the results from this study suggest that future studies of the dissolution of AgNPs should consider the differences between pristine laboratory-synthesized particles and consumer products because AgNPs-consumer products with additives behave differently. By introducing a new methodology for studying dissolution, this research will be useful in evaluating chemicals in consumer products and will be used by Regional and Program Office partners to determine fate and risk silver nanoparticles used in consumer products. Furthermore, this research showed that future studies of dissolution of AgNPs should consider the products’ complex chemical compositions, fate, transport and implications in environmental systems and on living organisms.
Description:
The utilization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in consumer products has significantly increased in recent years, primarily due to their antimicrobial properties. Increased use of AgNPs has raised ecological concerns. Once released into an aquatic environment, AgNPs may undergo oxidative dissolution leading to the generation of toxic Ag+. Therefore, it is critical to investigate the ecotoxicological potential of AgNPs and determine the physicochemical parameters that control their dissolution in aquatic environments. We have investigated the dissolution trends of aqueous colloidal AgNPs in five products, marketed as dietary supplements and surface sanitizers. The dissolution trends of AgNPs in studied products were compared with the dissolution trends of AgNPs in well-characterized laboratory-synthesized nanomaterials: citrate-coated AgNPs, polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated AgNPs, and branched polyethyleneimine-coated AgNPs. The characterization of the studied AgNPs included particle size, anion content, metal content, silver speciation, and capping agent identification. There were small differences in the dissolved masses of Ag+ between products, but we did not observe any significant differences in the dissolution trends obtained for deionized water and tap water. The decrease of the dissolved mass of Ag+ in tap water could be due to the reaction between Ag+ and Cl−, forming AgCl and affecting their dissolution. We observed a rapid initial Ag+ release and particle size decrease for all AgNP suspensions due to the desorption of Ag+ from the nanoparticles surfaces. The observed differences in dissolution trends between AgNPs in products and laboratory-synthesized AgNPs could be caused by variances in capping agent, particle size, and total AgNP surface area in suspensions.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Dissolution of silver nanoparticles in colloidal consumer products: effects of particle size and capping agent
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