Hollow-fiber flow field-flow fractionation and multi-angle light scattering investigation of the size, shape and metal-release of silver nanoparticles in aqueous medium for nano-risk assessment

open11siAvailable online 22 November 2014 The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) through the project SANOWORK under Grant Agreement no. 280716. The HRTEM has been made available under the INSPIRE programme, funded by Irish Government's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, Cycle 4, National Development Plan 2007–2013, which is supported by European Union Structural Fund. Drs. Abbasi Gandhi and Vishnu Mogili of the University of Limerick are acknowledged for generating HRTEM data.Due to the increased use of silver nanoparticles in industrial scale manufacturing, consumer products and nanomedicine reliable measurements of properties such as the size, shape and distribution of these nano particles in aqueous medium is critical. These properties indeed affect both functional properties and biological impacts especially in quantifying associated risks and identifying suitable risk-mediation strategies. The feasibility of on-line coupling of a fractionation technique such as hollow-fiber flow field flow fractionation (HF5) with a light scattering technique such as MALS (multi-angle light scattering) is investigated here for this purpose. Data obtained from such a fractionation technique and its combination thereof with MALS have been compared with those from more conventional but often complementary techniques e.g. transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray fluorescence. The combination of fractionation and multi angle light scattering techniques have been found to offer an ideal, hyphenated methodology for a simultaneous size-separation and characterization of silver nanoparticles. The hydrodynamic radii determined by fractionation techniques can be conveniently correlated to the mean average diameters determined by multi angle light scattering and reliable information on particle morphology in aqueous dispersion has been obtained. The ability to separate silver (Ag+) ions from silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) via membrane filtration during size analysis is an added advantage in obtaining quantitative insights to its risk potential. Most importantly, the methodology developed in this article can potentially be extended to similar characterization of metal-based nanoparticles when studying their functional effectiveness and hazard potential.partially_openembargoed_20151122Marassi, Valentina; Casolari, Sonia; Roda, Barbara; Zattoni, Andrea; Reschiglian, Pierluigi; Panzavolta, Silvia; Tofail, Syed A.M.; Ortelli, Simona; Delpivo, Camilla; Blosi, Magda; Costa, Anna LuisaMarassi, Valentina; Casolari, Sonia; Roda, Barbara; Zattoni, Andrea; Reschiglian, Pierluigi; Panzavolta, Silvia; Tofail, Syed A.M.; Ortelli, Simona; Delpivo, Camilla; Blosi, Magda; Costa, Anna Luis