A Multi-Scale Investigation of Transport of Complex Nanoparticles in Complex Flows: Integrating Lab, Field, and Models to Simplify Complexity

溪流和河流将景观与海洋连接起来，通过广泛的异质系统移动自然和人为物质。工程纳米颗粒是一类新兴的材料，可以在这些系统中运输，随着纳米颗粒在商业和工业应用中的日益广泛使用，它们不可避免地会释放到环境中。环境风险的可行管理和纳米粒子的应用将需要可靠的，简约的，准确的模型，可以预测的命运和纳米粒子的传输行为。该项目旨在从实验室和现场实验中产生全面的数据集，以开发可以预测纳米颗粒在环境中的命运和运输的模型。了解纳米颗粒的命运和运输对许多研究领域都很重要，准确的模型对于制定新立法的监管机构来说是不可或缺的。虽然开发的模型将侧重于纳米颗粒，但项目成果预计将对理解和改进其他复杂物质的传输建模产生重大益处（例如，环境DNA）在现实的水文环境中。该项目将通过建立使用现场的模块来强调理解纳米颗粒在环境中行为的重要性，为年轻学生（K-12）和成年人提供大量的教育机会。该项目将是迄今为止第一个完全整合实验室实验、现场实验和最先进的机理模型来确定复杂流中复杂纳米颗粒的命运的项目。PI将建立具有不同物理化学性质的纳米颗粒的集合，这些物理化学性质代表纳米颗粒生命周期的各个方面。实地实验将在圣母大学链接实验生态系统网站进行，这是一个全球独特的研究设施，包含两个人造实验流域，包括一个相互连接的池塘，溪流和湿地。该项目的成果将是（i）来自实验室规模的纳米颗粒运输相关实验的综合实验数据集，（ii）来自控制现场实验的实验数据集，这些实验数据集着眼于现实河流中的纳米颗粒运输，以及（iii）开发一个基于随机的理论框架，能够在这些和其他环境重要性尺度上模拟纳米颗粒运输。数据结果将为理解纳米粒子在现实流动环境中的命运和运输提供重大进展。通过以分层方式建立模型并使用机械框架将信息从受控实验室规模转化为现场规模，将开发一种定义明确的方法，以扩展到更大的规模（例如，整个河流和河流网络）。

Streams and rivers connect landscapes to oceans, moving natural and anthropogenic materials through extensive and heterogeneous systems. Engineered nanoparticles are an emerging class of materials that can be transported in these systems, and with the growing use of nanoparticles for commercial and industrial applications, their release into the environment is inevitable. Feasible management of environmental risks and applications of nanoparticles will require reliable, parsimonious, and accurate models that can predict the fate and transport behavior of nanoparticles. This project aims to produce comprehensive datasets from laboratory and field experiments to develop models that can predict the fate and transport of nanoparticles in the environment. Understanding the fate and transport of nanoparticles is important to numerous research areas, and accurate models are integral for regulatory agencies developing new legislation. While the developed models will focus on nanoparticles, project outcomes are expected to yield significant benefits to understanding and improving transport modeling of other complex substances (e.g., environmental DNA) in realistic hydrologic environments. This project will present numerous educational opportunities for young students (K-12) and adults by establishing modules that use the field-site to highlight the importance of understanding nanoparticle behavior in the environment.This project will be the first to date that completely integrates laboratory experiments, field experiments, and state-of-the-art mechanistic models to determine the fate of complex nanoparticles in complex streams. The PIs will establish a collection of nanoparticles that have differing physicochemical properties representing various aspects of the nanoparticle life-cycle. The field experiments will be conducted at the University of Notre Dame Linked Experimental Ecosystem site, a globally unique research facility that contains two man-made experimental watersheds consisting of an interconnected pond, streams, and a wetland. The outcomes of this project will be (i) comprehensive experimental datasets from nanoparticle transport-related experiments from laboratory scales, (ii) experimental datasets from controlled field experiments looking at nanoparticle transport in realistic streams and (iii) the development of a stochastic-based theoretical framework capable of modeling nanoparticle transport at these and other scales of environmental importance. Data outcomes will provide significant advances in understanding nanoparticle fate and transport in realistic flow environments. By building the models in a hierarchical manner and using a mechanistic framework to translate information from controlled laboratory scales up to field scales, a well-defined methodology will be developed for extension to even larger scales (e.g., entire stream and river networks).