Development of a novel method for trace analysis of nanomaterials in water

这项拟议的研究旨在开发一种新的方法，该方法适用于倾倒含纳米材料的废物所产生的城市水中纳米材料的痕量分析。尽管所有纳米材料在工业、消费和医疗应用方面都有巨大的前景，但这些产品的处置打开了需要很好控制的人类接触的广泛范围。一种分析灵敏度高的方法将有助于缓解在短期内为加拿大家庭提供饮用水、烹饪、洗澡和园艺用水的挑战。我们的新方法是基于在纳米材料上覆盖一层厚厚的聚合物以使其长大，尽管速度不同。这些生长的纳米材料可以通过毛细管电泳法分离，因为根据它们的电子电荷、大小、形状和表面功能，它们的电泳迁移率不同。检测灵敏度通过厚聚合物涂层的紫外线吸收能力而提高，并可通过吸附高量子产率的化合物进行激光诱导荧光检测而进一步增强。当不带离子电荷的纳米材料受到非均匀电场时，介电泳将被用来分离它们。分离很大程度上取决于介质的介电常数、颗粒的电学性质、颗粒的形状和大小以及电场的频率。带有膜过滤器的微滤可用于通过筛分机制从样品中去除纳米材料。预计滤液将在电泳图中产生较少的峰，以简化其定性鉴定。接下来可以对重新悬浮的纳米材料进行总发光光谱，总发光强度将代表所有纳米材料的数量。所提出的表征、检测和确定工程纳米材料的分析方法将对城市水处理和纳米材料的毒理学研究产生重大影响。

The proposed research aims to develop a new method that is ideal for trace analysis of nanomaterials in municipal water from the dumping of waste containing nanomaterials. Although all nanomaterials have enormous prospect in industrial, consumer and medical applications, disposal of these products opens up a wide range of human exposure that needs to be well controlled. A method of high analytical sensitivity will help ameliorate the challenge of providing Canadian households with safe water for drinking, cooking, bathing and gardening in the short term. Our novel approach is based on the controlled coating of nanomaterials with a thick layer of polymer to grow larger, albeit at different rates. These grown nanomaterials can be separated by capillary electrophoresis due to differences in electrophoretic mobility, depending on their electronic charge, size, shape and surface functionality. Detection sensitivity is increased by the UV absorptivity of a thick polymer coating and can be further enhanced by adsorbing a compound of high quantum yield for laser-induced fluorescence detection. Dielectrophoresis will be used to separate nanomaterials that do not carry ionic charges when they are subjected to a non-uniform electric field. Separation depends strongly on permittivity of the medium, electrical properties of the particles, shape and size of the particles, as well as frequency of the electric field. Microfiltration with a membrane filter can be used to remove nanomaterials from the sample by a screening mechanism. The filtrate is expected to generate fewer peaks in the electropherogram to simplify their qualitative identification. Total luminescence spectroscopy can next be performed on the re-suspended nanomaterials, and the total luminescence intensity will represent the quantity of all nanomaterials. The proposed analytical methodology to characterize, detect and determine engineered nanomaterials will have a significant impact on municipal water treatment and study of toxicology due to nanomaterials.