abstract
The increased applications of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) may lead to environmental release and transport to estuarine environments where NPs are expected to aggregate/agglomerate with increasing ionic strength. However, more stable NPs that may be resistant to high ionic strength media and more dispersed in the aquatic environment are being synthesized. Thus, understanding colloidal NPs' behavior in different ionic strength media is crucial for the assessment of the consequences of their environmental release. This work assessed the behavior of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), with diverse sizes and coatings, in media with different ionic strengths (from biological buffers to artificial seawater). Overall, in biological buffers and artificial seawater, citrate-coated AuNPs were unstable, displaying significantly increased sizes (between 100 and 400 nm), whereas no significant alterations (less than 5 % oscillation) were found for AuNPs with other coatings (bovine serum albumin, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and polyethylene glycol). Data suggest that coated AuNPs, and probably other NPs, may be dispersed in the environment from freshwater to estuarine systems.
keywords
IN-VITRO; STABILITY; SIZE; CELL; PH; AGGREGATION; SCATTERING; TOXICITY; THERAPY; LIGANDS
subject category
Chemistry; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Materials Science
authors
Barreto, A; Luis, LG; Girao, AV; Trindade, T; Soares, AMVM; Oliveira, M
our authors
Ana Violeta Girão
Junior Researcher
Tito Trindade
Full professorGroups
G1 - Porous Materials and Nanosystems
G3 - Electrochemical Materials, Interfaces and Coatings
acknowledgements
This research was supported through the COMPETE-Operational Competitiveness Program and national funds through FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project