Metal fingerprinting and chemothermal isolation methods to quantify natural and engineered carbon nanoparticles

用于量化天然和工程碳纳米颗粒的金属指纹和化学热分离方法

• 批准号: 1336794
• 负责人: Desiree Plata
• 金额: $ 30.5万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1336794&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Metal; fingerprinting; chemothermal; isolation; methods

CBET - 1336794Overview:The PIs seek to develop methodology to quantify, fingerprint, and distinguish natural and engineeredcarbonaceous nanoparticles using thermal separation techniques and metal content signatures.Building on well-established thermal methods to quantify black carbon (BC) soot, the PIspropose a technique that distinguishes non-nanoparticulate natural organic matter, single-walledcarbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), and BC (the most ubiquitous, natural carbonaceous nanoparticle)based on their distinct thermal stabilities. Preliminary results suggest that natural organicmatter, SWCNTs, and BC have unique oxidation ranges and could be distinguished and quantifiedfollowing sequential oxidations coupled with elemental analysis. Here, we aim to demonstratethat these thermal stabilities are preserved in complex mixtures of air, water, sediments,and soil, and as a result, can be used to quantitatively delineate the nanoparticles (e.g.,natural vs. engineering) in environmental matrices. Furthermore, bulk metal contents determinedvia complete acid digestion and mass spectrometry should provide a route toward source apportionment.Advantages of this approach include the low cost, accessibility, high-throughput capabilities,and minimal sample processing (e.g., extraction) required for this method, which reduces thepotential for analyte loss and transformation during analysis.Intellectual Merit :The National Research Council 2012 EHS Nanotechnology Research Strategy report listed analyticaltechniques as the first research priority. Current approaches for measuring carbonaceousnanoparticles (CNPs) in the work place (and atmosphere) primarily rely on light-scatteringparticle sizers, which provide a bulk measure of nano-sized particles. However, as syntheticapproaches to form engineered carbonaceous nanoparticles (i.e, carbon nanotubes and graphene)are known to co-produce natural nanoparticles (i.e., soot), current results are reportingnatural plus engineered nanoparticle exposure. Thus, it is not possible to quantitativelydetermine occupational exposure to engineered nanoparticles. In addition, there are no methodsto assess release of engineered nanoparticles to the atmosphere, which is a likely vectorfor CNP transport to the environment. This has severe consequences for ongoing nanoparticleresearch: (1) fate models lack validated source data, (2) occupational exposure can be neitherassessed nor enforced, and (3) environmental release can not be mitigated where necessary.Upon project completion, quantitatively differentiation of natural and engineered carbonaceousnanoparticles (NPs) will be possible for the first time, allowing accurate assessment of exposureto engineered NPs, which have unique properties, morphologies, and toxicities compared tonatural NPs. These goals are within the team?s reach and rely on affordable, accessible technologies.Broader Impacts :The PIs and their research groups are actively involved in the outreach efforts hosted bythe Center for the Environmental Implications of Nano-technology (CEINT) at Duke University,as well as other science enrichment activities there, including Females Excelling More inMath Engineering and Science (FEMMES) (100% females from underrepresented groups) volunteerscience workshops. As part of the proposed work, the PIs will establish a nano-analyticalK-12 education module (Is CSI for real? Rapid Nano-forensics?), and this will be taught aspart of NanoDays, FEMMES, and later distributed to the CEINT network of K-12 educators. Additionally,the program will be modified for a more advanced audience (e.g., public library and seniorcenter), delivered live, and videotaped for web distribution.

CBET -1336794概述：PI寻求开发方法来使用热分离技术和金属含量特征来量化，指纹识别和区分天然和工程碳纳米颗粒。基于成熟的量化黑碳（BC）烟灰的热方法，PI提出了一种基于其独特的热稳定性区分非纳米颗粒天然有机物，单壁碳纳米管（SWCNT）和BC（最普遍的天然碳纳米颗粒）的技术。初步结果表明，天然有机物，单壁碳纳米管，和BC具有独特的氧化范围，并可以区分和quantitedfollowing顺序氧化加上元素分析。在这里，我们的目标是证明这些热稳定性在空气，水，沉积物和土壤的复杂混合物中得到保留，因此，可以用来定量描述纳米颗粒（例如，自然与工程）的环境矩阵。此外，通过完全酸消化和质谱法测定的大量金属含量应提供一种源解析的途径。这种方法的优点包括成本低、可获得性、高通量能力和最小的样品处理（例如，知识价值：国家研究理事会2012年EHS纳米技术研究战略报告将分析技术列为第一优先研究事项。目前用于测量工作场所（和大气）中的碳纳米颗粒（CNP）的方法主要依赖于光散射粒度仪，其提供纳米尺寸颗粒的批量测量。然而，由于形成工程化碳纳米颗粒（即，碳纳米管和石墨烯）的合成方法已知共同产生天然纳米颗粒（即，煤烟），目前的结果是报告自然加上工程纳米粒子暴露。因此，不可能定量确定工程纳米颗粒的职业暴露。此外，还没有方法来评估工程纳米颗粒释放到大气中，这是CNP运输到环境中的可能载体。这对正在进行的纳米粒子研究产生了严重的后果：（1）归宿模型缺乏经过验证的源数据，（2）职业暴露既不能评估也不能强制执行，（3）环境释放不能在必要时得到缓解。项目完成后，将首次实现天然和工程化碳纳米颗粒（NP）的定量区分，从而能够准确评估工程化NP的安全性，其与天然NP相比具有独特的性质、形态和毒性。这些目标是在团队中实现的吗？更广泛的影响：PI及其研究小组积极参与杜克大学纳米技术环境影响中心（CEINT）主办的外展活动，以及其他科学丰富活动，包括女性在数学工程和科学（FEMMES）（100%女性来自代表性不足的群体）志愿者科学讲习班。作为拟议工作的一部分，PI将建立一个纳米分析K-12教育模块（CSI是真实的吗？快速纳米取证？），这将作为NanoDays，FEMMES的一部分进行教学，然后分发给K-12教育者的CEINT网络。此外，该计划将被修改为更先进的观众（例如，公共图书馆和老年中心），现场直播，并录像供网络分发。