AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
An Electrospray / Differential Mobility Analysis / Inductively Coupled Plasma / Mass Spectrometry (ES/DMA/ICP-MS) Based Method for the Quantification of Engineered Nanoparticles in Environmentally-Relevant Water Matrices
MARK ELLEFSON, Charlie Chan, Christine Loza, Sue Wolf, Brian Mader, 3M Company
Abstract Number: 674 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract An electrospray-differential mobility analysis-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ES/DMA/ICP-MS) methodology was evaluated for the measurement of the size distribution and quantitative number concentration of manufactured nanoparticles (MNs) in environmentally relevant aqueous matrices. Reference materials (some having NIST traceability for size) consisting of SiO2, TiO2, gold, and silver and having diameters from nominally 20 to 75 nm were used in the evaluation. The reference materials were spiked into different environmentally relevant aqueous matrices; algae and daphnia growth media used in ecotoxicology testing as well as semiconductor grade ultra pure water, groundwater, and an industrial wastewater. A comparison of the mean measured particle diameters of the reference materials to the expected NIST-traceable size range for the materials will be presented. In addition matrix matched calibration curves were prepared to determine the individual response factors of each reference material in each media. Response factors were used to quantify the levels of the reference materials spiked into each aqueous matrix and the matrix spike recovery was determined as well as the limit of detection. The method requires the use of a gas-exchange system to exchange the air stream used in electrospray and DMA sections of the instrument with argon that is required for the ICP-MS analysis. The transmission efficiency and gas exchange efficiencies of the system were in excess of 99%. Overall this method looks promising for the evaluation of inorganic MNs in environmental matrices.