AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
A Liquid Nebulization / Differential Mobility Analysis (LN/DMA) Based Method for the Quantification of Nanomaterials in Environmentally-Relevant Water Matrices
BRIAN MADER, Mark Ellefson, Sue Wolf, 3M Company
Abstract Number: 111 Working Group: Nanoparticles and Materials Synthesis
Abstract A liquid nebulization-differential mobility analysis (LN/DMA) methodology was evaluated for the measurement of the size distribution and quantitative number concentration of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) in environmentally relevant aqueous matrices. The analysis time is eight minutes per analysis and requires little routine sample preparation and less than 8 mL of sample. For the ENPs studied, the method was capable of rapid, non-invasive, direct analysis of ENPs in many types of aqueous media. Twelve NIST traceable reference materials consisting of polystyrene latex, SiO2, gold, and silver and having diameters from 18 nm to 200 nm were used in the evaluation. The reference materials were spiked into six aqueous matrices; algae and daphnia growth media used in ecotoxicology testing as well as semiconductor grade ultra pure water, groundwater-sourced drinking water, water used in manufacturing activities and an industrial wastewater. The mean measured particle diameters of the reference materials were within the expected NIST-traceable size range for the materials. Matrix matched calibration curves were prepared to determine the individual response factors of each reference material. The response factors were used to quantify the levels of the reference materials spiked into each aqueous matrix. For samples with appropriate signal to noise, and with the exception of one data point, recoveries were within the range of 70 to 130%. This method is particularly well suited for dose verification in ecotoxicology studies as well to support the studies of ENM behavior in other aqueous matrices.