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Physical transformations of iron oxide and silver nanoparticles from an intermediate scale field transport study

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Abstract

In recent years, there has been increasing concern regarding the fate and transport of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) in environmental systems and the potential impacts on human and environmental health due to the exponential increase in commercial and industrial use worldwide. To date, there have been relatively few field-scale studies or laboratory-based studies on environmentally relevant soils examining the chemical/physical behavior of the NPs following release into natural systems. The objective of this research is to demonstrate the behavior and transformations of iron oxide and silver NPs with different capping ligands within the unsaturated zone. Here, we show that NP transport within the vadose zone is minimal primarily due to heteroaggregation with soil surface coatings with results that >99 % of the NPs remained within 5 cm of the original source after 1 year in intermediate-scale field lysimeters. These results suggest that transport may be overestimated when compared to previous laboratory-scale studies on pristine soils and pure minerals and that future work must incorporate more environmentally relevant parameters.

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Abbreviations

EDX:

Energy dispersive X-ray

FeO x :

Iron oxide

ICP-MS:

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer

NP:

Nanoparticle

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

SR-NOM:

Suwanee River NOM

TEM:

Transmission electron microscopy

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Bin Qi for TEM imaging, Dan D’Unger for iron oxide nanoparticle synthesis, Jonathan Ball for assistance with preliminary studies, and funding by the National Science Foundation Project number 1057633 “Evaluation of Nanoparticle Behavior During Transitions from Engineered to Natural Systems.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson University, Anderson, SC, USA

    Hilary P. Emerson, Jonathon A. Baldwin, Tyler C. Waterhouse & Brian A. Powell

  2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Clemson University, Anderson, SC, USA

    Ashley E. Hart & Christopher L. Kitchens

  3. Department of Materials Science Engineering, Clemson University, Anderson, SC, USA

    O. Thompson Mefford

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  1. Hilary P. Emerson
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  2. Ashley E. Hart
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  3. Jonathon A. Baldwin
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  6. O. Thompson Mefford
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  7. Brian A. Powell
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Correspondence to Hilary P. Emerson or Brian A. Powell.

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Emerson, H.P., Hart, A.E., Baldwin, J.A. et al. Physical transformations of iron oxide and silver nanoparticles from an intermediate scale field transport study. J Nanopart Res 16, 2258 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2258-9

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