Determining unknown concentrations of nanoparticles: the particle-impact electrochemistry of nickel and silver

The developing field of particle-impact electrochemistry is rapidly establishing itself as a powerful tool for the interpretation of a wide range of phenomena associated with nanoparticles. In this article we present results showing the characterisation of nickel nanoparticles and, for the first time, a mixture of nanoparticles: in this case nickel and silver. The former are shown not to aggregate in aqueous solution whereas the latter do. We report a novel method for the determination on unknown concentrations of nanoparticles in a sample and demonstrate its use for both aggregating and non-aggregating nanoparticles. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry