UNS:GOALI: Collaborative Research: Aquatic Fate and Toxicity of III-V Materials in the Presence of Nanoparticles Used in Industrial Polishing Processes

Sierra-Alvarez, Reyes（首席研究员），亚利桑那州图森市亚利桑那大学；westerhoff, Paul（联合首席研究员），亚利桑那州坦佩市亚利桑那州立大学；speed, David（联合首席研究员），IBM公司III-V材料（如砷化镓铟）在半导体和电子制造业中的应用越来越多，预计将导致产生大量含有III-V金属（砷（As））的废水；镓（Ga）、铟（In）和金属氧化物纳米颗粒（SiO2、Al2O3和CeO2）。这些工程纳米颗粒（NPs）可能作为有毒III-V物种的载体，并改变NPs本身的反应性，这是一个值得关注的问题。本项目旨在量化NPs对III-V类物质的吸附，并探讨这些相互作用如何影响III-V类物种和NPs的环境命运、生物吸收和水生毒性。这项研究将与半导体行业合作进行，半导体行业是SiO2、Al2O3和CeO2 NPs的主要用户，该行业正在开展广泛的研发工作，以开发一种新型集成电路器件，该器件将采用III-V半导体。研究工作将包括：1)确定In、Ga和As与NPs的新的平衡水络合常数，模拟NPs存在下III-V元素的形态和分布；ii)通过实验和量子计算证明，NPs上III-V离子的吸附改变了它们的表面反应性和产生活性氧的潜力，活性氧是通常与细胞毒性增加相关的标志；iii)了解iii - v类物种的影响？NP对模型水生生物对这些新兴污染物的毒性和吸收的相互作用。工业界支持的工作将评估NPs和III-V离子二元混合物在现场水处理和下游城市污水处理过程中的命运和影响。这个项目的主要智力价值在于探索了一个中心假设，即NPs可以作为一个？特洛伊木马?从而影响NPs的表面反应性和毒性，以及溶解的III-V金属在水生环境中的生物吸收、命运和毒性。尽管利用NPs作为生物医学应用的特洛伊木马传递系统的概念已经引起了广泛的研究关注，但利用环境相关离子和NPs进行这一概念的现实研究却很少。此外，一些NP可以吸附环境污染物是公认的，但吸附金属可以改变NP反应性的概念是新颖的。这项研究还将提高我们对Ga和In的环境化学、命运和生态毒性的理解，这两种特征较差的金属由于其不断扩大的工业用途而进入水系统的风险越来越大。该项目将是首批对工业废物流中NPs进行深入实验和建模工作的项目之一。纳米技术的安全发展是亚利桑那大学和亚利桑那州立大学校园的一个重要主题，这项研究将有助于扩大两所大学纳米技术发展的广泛影响。该项目将通过支持研究生研究和提供科学成果来开发环境工程课程的模块，从而在教育方面受益。其他关键影响包括制定最佳做法准则，供工业界使用，以减少含有NPs的半导体废水对环境的潜在影响，包括III-V薄膜平化产生的废水。总的来说，该研究可以通过提供新的知识和工具来促进水生环境中NPs和III-V金属的潜在危害评估，从而造福社会。这项研究的结果将在科学出版物和科学会议上公开发表，并将在半导体行业组织的专业会议上发表。

Sierra-Alvarez, Reyes (Principal investigator), The University of Arizona, Tucson, ArizonaWesterhoff, Paul (Co-principal investigator), Arizona State University, Tempe, ArizonaSpeed, David (Co-principal investigator), IBM CorporationThe growing application of III-V materials (e.g. gallium indium arsenide) in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing is expected to lead to generation of large volumes of wastewaters containing III-V metals (arsenic (As), gallium (Ga) and indium (In)) and metal oxide nanoparticles (SiO2, Al2O3 and CeO2). The potential that these engineered nanoparticles (NPs) may act as carriers of toxic III-V species and modify the reactivity of the NPs themselves is a concern. This project aims to quantify the adsorption of III-V materials by NPs and explore how these interactions impact the environmental fate, biological uptake, and aquatic toxicity of III-V species and NPs. This research will be conducted in collaboration with the semiconductor industry, a major user of SiO2, Al2O3, and CeO2 NPs, that is launching extensive R&D efforts to develop a new class of integrated circuit devices that will employ III-V semiconductors.Research work will be conducted to: i) determine new equilibrium aqueous complexation constants for In, Ga, and As with NPs and simulate the speciation and distribution of III-V elements in the presence of NPs; ii) demonstrate experimentally and through quantum calculations that sorption of III-V ions on NPs alters their surface reactivity and potential to produce reactive oxygen species, a marker commonly associated with increased cytotoxicity; and iii) understand the impact of III-V species?NP interactions on the toxicity and uptake of these emerging contaminants by model aquatic organisms. Work supported by industry will assess the fate and impact of a binary mixture of NPs and III-V ions during on-site water treatment and downstream municipal wastewater treatment. The primary intellectual merit of this project is the exploration of the central hypothesis that NPs can act as a ?Trojan Horse? of adsorbed III-V species, and thereby affect the surface reactivity and toxicity of NPs, as well as the biological uptake, fate and toxicity of the dissolved III-V metals in the aquatic environment. Whereas the concept of using NPs as Trojan Horse delivery systems for biomedical applications has attracted wide research attention, there are few realistic studies of this concept using environmentally relevant ions and NPs. Also it is well established that some NP can adsorb environmental contaminants, but the notion that adsorbed metals can alter the reactivity of NPs is novel. The study will also improve our understanding about the environmental chemistry, fate and ecotoxicity of Ga and In, two poorly characterized metals which have increasing risk to enter water systems because of their expanding industrial uses. This project will be among the first to conduct in depth experimental and modeling work of NPs in industrial waste streams.Safe development of nanotechnology is a major theme on both UA and ASU campuses and this research will contribute to expand the broader impacts associated with nanotechnology development at both institutions. The project will have benefits in education by supporting graduate student research and providing scientific results to develop modules in environmental engineering courses. Other key impacts include the development of best practice guidelines that can be used by industry to reduce the potential environmental impact of semiconductor effluents containing NPs, including effluents from planarization of III-V films. Overall, the research could benefit society by providing new knowledge and tools to facilitate assessment of potential hazards of NPs and III-V metals in the aquatic environment. Findings from this study will be made publicly available in scientific publications and presentations at scientific conferences, and they will be presented at professional meetings organized by the semiconductor industry.