Laboratory Methods
Laboratory equipment manufacturers PerkinElmer and ThermoFisher are evaluating
analytical techniques for detecting nanomaterials. Table 1 summarizes the different
characteristics of nanomaterials and the effective analytical equipment used for detection.
Because of their unique properties and ubiquitous use, carbon fullerenes are addressed in
more detail below.
In addition to ICP-MS methods, a more refined approach for measuring nanoparticles
involves the use of single-particle inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (spICPMS).
This method allows for detecting, counting and sizing metal nanoparticles. For example,
spICP-MS can theoretically detect and count gold nanoparticles near 5 nm. However, this
method has only been tested in the laboratory and its accuracy in “real world” samples has
not been determined.119
The Analysis of Fullerenes in Environmental Samples
Fullerenes are robust and versatile molecules
of pure carbon (i.e. C60) with unique physicochemical
properties (see Figure 4). A variety of
applications use these sphere-like structures,
including drug delivery, electronic products,
sensors and photonic devices, and as coating,
pigments or cosmetic products. Based on their
potential use, environmental concentrations of
engineered fullerenes in the United Kingdom
were predicted to be around 0.30 µg/L in
water.120 However, lower concentrations are
expected in European surface waters (0.003 and
0.021 ng/L) when sedimentation is included.