Detection, characterization and temporal evolution of metal nanoparticles is undergoing environmental transformations. Within the Nanoparticle Metrology for Health and Environment Project (NMHEP), the current project is focused on identifying the primary reaction pathways that result in observed final field based endpoints by developing methods to temporally track distinct parent and progeny engineered nanomaterial populations. The development of methods to specifically follow the evolution of the smallest nanoparticle populations (< 10 nm) and examine persistence and lifetimes in environmental systems is of particular interest. Additionally, projects proposing to better understand the competing interactions between engineered coatings and environmental components on transforming material surfaces are also encouraged. The NMHEP has a suite of instrumentation for separations (liquid and gas phase), physical characterization, and chemical analysis, which can be leveraged to monitor nanomaterial size distributions and corresponding chemical compositions during controlled transformations in complex media.

 

Reference

Pettibone JM, et al: ACS Nano 7: 2491-2499, 2013

 

key words

Nanoparticles; Environmental processing; Delivery platform; Conjugation; Transformations; Surface coatings;

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants