NIST technique controls sizes of nanoparticle clusters for EHS studies
Thursday, February 3, 2011 - 12:40
in Physics & Chemistry
The same properties that make engineered nanoparticles attractive for numerous applications - small as a virus, biologically and environmentally stabile, and water-soluble - also cause concern about their long-term impacts on environmental health and safety (EHS). One particular characteristic, the tendency for nanoparticles to clump together in solution, is of great interest because the size of these clusters may be key to whether or not they are toxic to human cells. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated for the first time a method for producing nanoparticle clusters in a variety of controlled sizes that are stable over time so that their effects on cells can be studied properly...