Towards commercialising a hybrid nanosensor for screening dispersed nanoparticles and heavy metal ions in natural waters

问题：在过去的十年中，工程纳米颗粒（NP）在化妆品、药品、传感器和许多其他商业应用中的使用呈指数级增长。由于其日益增加的应用，许多NP被工业公司和家庭使用排入水道。监测这些材料对环境的影响，特别是对水生系统的影响的技术还没有得到很好的发展。它不仅是足以能够确定在水中的NP，但它也是至关重要的，有一定的了解其毒性或生物活性。同时，迫切需要高通量筛选器来报告不同NP和/或含有分散在水中的NP的产物的生物膜活性（结合/吸附/穿透生物膜的能力）。因此，需要一种NP筛选系统，该系统定期报告原水、废水和饮用沃茨中的生物活性NP水平。与此同时，由于重金属离子的潜在毒性，其在水中的存在一直是人们关注的问题。这些重金属离子可来源于工业和/或家庭使用，尽管在过去50年中在水中重金属离子的分析方面取得了巨大的进步，但目前还没有可用于天然和饮用沃茨的常规重金属离子筛选剂。因此，NP和重金属离子组合筛选器将立即应用于任何关注与人类活动接触的水质的组织。解决问题：所提出的技术提供了一种具有以下双重功能的设备：（1）筛选沃茨中具有生物膜活性的NP，因此NP是有毒的，（2）检测有毒的重金属离子（Cu 2+、Pb 2+、Cd 2+和Zn 2+）在水中的溶液。该系统还可用于测试分散在水中的NP样品或含有NP的产品的生物膜活性。水中NP的筛选是快速、在线和高通量的，测试每个样品需要10分钟。同样，水中的重金属离子可以同时定量地一起测量。NP筛选器的工作原理是在流动池中观察NP与涂覆在基于芯片的Pt/Hg微电极上的磷脂层的相互作用。这是对先前技术的发展，该技术使用相同的装置来筛选生物膜活性化合物的沃茨。使用阳极溶出伏安法测定重金属离子，阳极溶出伏安法是一种成熟的分析技术。基于芯片的Pt/Hg电极在流动池与流动注射技术的发展，使这两种技术被用于高通量配置。从一种技术到另一种技术的转换可以容易地由软件控制，最终用户通过采用它将获得的好处是：（1）筛选沃茨中存在的生物膜活性NP（2）筛选含有分散在水中的NP的产品的生物膜活性（3）筛选商业生产的分散在水中的NP的生物膜活性（4）检测、鉴定和定量测量水中的有毒重金属离子

The problem: The use of engineered nanoparticles (NP) in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, sensors and many other commercial applications has been growing exponentially over the past decade. Because of their increasing application many NP are discharged to the watercourse both by industrial companies and through domestic use. The technology for monitoring the environmental impact of these materials, particularly in aquatic systems, is not well developed. It is not only sufficient to be able to determine the NP in water but also it is crucial to have some understanding of their toxicity or biological activity. At the same time, a high throughput screener is urgently required to report on the biomembrane activity (ability to bind to/adsorb on/penetrate biological membranes) of different NP and/or products containing NP dispersed in water. A screening system for NP is therefore required which reports routinely on the level of biologically active NP in raw, waste and drinking waters. At the same time the presence of heavy metal ions in water is always a concern due to their implicit toxicity. These heavy metal ions can be derived from industrial and/or domestic use and in spite of the tremendous advances in the analysis of heavy metal ions in water in the past 50 years, there is currently no routine heavy metal ion screener available for natural and potable waters. A combined NP and heavy metal ion screener therefore would have immediate application in any organisation concerned about the quality of water which comes into contact with human activity.Addressing the problem:The proposed technology offers a device which has a dual capability as follows: (1) To screen waters for NP which are biomembrane active and hence are putatively toxic and, (2) To detect toxic heavy metal ions (Cu2+, Pb2+, Cd2+ and Zn2+) in water. The system can also be used to test samples of NP or products containing NP dispersed in water for biomembrane activity. The screening for NP in water is rapid, on-line and high throughput and takes 10 minutes to test each sample. Similarly heavy metal ions in the water can be measured together simultaneously and quantitatively. The NP screener works by looking at the interaction of NP with a phospholipid layer coated on a chip based Pt/Hg microelectrode in a flow cell. This is a development of a previous technology which uses the same device to screen waters for biomembrane active compounds. The heavy metal ions are determined using anodic stripping voltammetry which is a well established analytical technique. The development of the chip-based Pt/Hg electrode in flow cell with flow injection techniques enables both techniques to be used in a high throughput configuration. The switchover from one technique to the other can be readily software controlled.Benefits which end-users will derive by adopting it:(1) Screening waters for the presence of biomembrane active NP(2) Screening products containing NP dispersed in water for biomembrane activity(3) Screening commercially produced NP dispersed in water for biomembrane activity(4) Detecting, identifying and quantitatively measuring toxic heavy metal ions in water