On the Operational Aspects of Measuring Nanoparticle Sizes

Nanomaterials

卷:9

Shu-wen W. Chen¹  Louis Chantalat²  Michael Odorico²  Christian Godon²  Johann Ravaux³  Renaud Podor³  Julien Cambedouzou³  Aurélie Habert⁴  Nathalie Herlin-Boime⁴  Adèle Gerdil⁴  Jean-Marie Teulon⁵  Jean-Luc Pellequer⁵  Christine Moriscot⁶ 

[1] 478 rue Cyprien Jullin, F-38470 Vinay, France;

[2] CEA, iBEB, LIRM, F-30207 Bagnols sur Cèze, France;

[3] Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule (ICSM), CEA, CNRS, ENSCM, Univ. Montpellier, F-30207 Marcoule, France;

[4] UMR3685 CEA-CNRS, NIMBE, LEDNA, CEA Saclay, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France;

[5] Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, IBS, F-38000 Grenoble, France;

[6] Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA, IBS, F-38000 Grenoble, France;

关键词: nanoparticles;    nanotoxicology;    metrology;    AFM;    TEM;    SEM;    wet-STEM;    SAXS;    DLS;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nano9010018

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Nanoparticles are defined as elementary particles with a size between 1 and 100 nm for at least 50% (in number). They can be made from natural materials, or manufactured. Due to their small sizes, novel toxicological issues are raised and thus determining the accurate size of these nanoparticles is a major challenge. In this study, we performed an intercomparison experiment with the goal to measure sizes of several nanoparticles, in a first step, calibrated beads and monodispersed SiO2 Ludox®, and, in a second step, nanoparticles (NPs) of toxicological interest, such as Silver NM-300 K and PVP-coated Ag NPs, Titanium dioxide A12, P25(Degussa), and E171(A), using commonly available laboratory techniques such as transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering, dynamic light scattering, wet scanning transmission electron microscopy (and its dry state, STEM) and atomic force microscopy. With monomodal distributed NPs (polystyrene beads and SiO2 Ludox®), all tested techniques provide a global size value amplitude within 25% from each other, whereas on multimodal distributed NPs (Ag and TiO2) the inter-technique variation in size values reaches 300%. Our results highlight several pitfalls of NP size measurements such as operational aspects, which are unexpected consequences in the choice of experimental protocols. It reinforces the idea that averaging the NP size from different biophysical techniques (and experimental protocols) is more robust than focusing on repetitions of a single technique. Besides, when characterizing a heterogeneous NP in size, a size distribution is more informative than a simple average value. This work emphasizes the need for nanotoxicologists (and regulatory agencies) to test a large panel of different techniques before making a choice for the most appropriate technique(s)/protocol(s) to characterize a peculiar NP.

【 授权许可】

Unknown