Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/K008137/1
Novel Optical-based Methods for Characterising Engineered Nanoparticles in Environmental Media
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor A Boxall, University of York, Environment
- Grant held at:
- University of York, Environment
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Overall Classification:
- Freshwater
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Nanotechnology is a new and fast emerging field that involves manufacture of materials that are less than 100 nm in size in one dimension. Due to their extremely small size, engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) exhibit properties that are vastly different from their 'parent' chemicals. Consequently ENPs are now being widely used in a range of products, including cosmetics, paints and coatings, pharmaceuticals and electronic goods and it is inevitable that ENPs will be released to the natural environment during the life cycles of these products. Concerns have therefore been raised by the scientific and regulatory communities over the potential for ENPs to adversely affect the natural environment. In order to understand the impact of a non-nanoparticulate chemical substance on the environment, experimental studies are performed to understand the occurrence and behaviour of a substance in different environmental media and the toxicity of these substances to aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Analysis of the mass concentration of a substance in different environmental media forms a core component of these studies. For ENPs, where effects are thought to be not only related to the mass concentration but also the particle number concentration and particle characteristics (e.g. particle size distribution), it is likely that new analytical methodologies will be required to support these studies. Several techniques have been applied for the physical and chemical characterisation of nanoparticles. However, many of the approaches require access to expensive equipment requiring specialist expertise to run a sample and many methods are time consuming. There is therefore a need for low cost and rapid approaches for characterizing ENPs in water and water-sediment or watersoil environments to support environmental risk investigations. One highly promising approach for rapid characterization of ENPs in environmental studies is nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). NTA has already been applied in studies to assess the environmental behaviour and ecotoxicity of ENPs. However, due to limitations in the sensitivity of the method, these studies are usually done at concentrations significantly higher than those that occur in the real environment and, due to limitations in analytical specificity, the studies have to be done using single particles in simple test systems. By developing NTA approaches with increased sensitivity (in terms of particle number concentration and particle size) and specificity, it would be possible to perform environmental fate and ecotoxicity studies under more environmentally relevant exposure conditions while still be able to rapidly generate information on the characteristics of the studied ENPs over time. This study will therefore develop novel and rapid optical-based approaches for characterizing the particle number and size distribution of ENPs under realistic environmental exposure conditions. Building on the NTA concept, the project will: develop new sample pre-treatment approaches and detection methodologies in order to enhance limits of detection of the method; develop illumination and detection methods for improving the selectivity of the NTA approach; and ground truth, the methodologies developed by using the methods in a series of environmental fate studies of varying complexity.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/K008137/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Analytical Sci and Tech
This training grant award has a total value of £71,071
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|
| £13,978 | £49,194 | £7,900 |
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