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. 2021 Sep 1;26(17):5315.
doi: 10.3390/molecules26175315.

Benchmarking the ACEnano Toolbox for Characterisation of Nanoparticle Size and Concentration by Interlaboratory Comparisons

Ruud Peters  1 , Ingrid Elbers  1 , Anna Undas  1 , Eelco Sijtsma  1 , Sophie Briffa  2 , Pauline Carnell-Morris  3 , Agnieszka Siupa  3 , Tae-Hyun Yoon  4   5 , Loïc Burr  6 , David Schmid  6 , Jutta Tentschert  7 , Yves Hachenberger  7 , Harald Jungnickel  7 , Andreas Luch  7 , Florian Meier  8 , Jovana Kocic  9 , Jaeseok Kim  10 , Byong Chon Park  10 , Barry Hardy  11 , Colin Johnston  12 , Kerstin Jurkschat  12 , Jörg Radnik  13 , Vasile-Dan Hodoroaba  13 , Iseult Lynch  2 , Eugenia Valsami-Jones  2
Affiliations

Benchmarking the ACEnano Toolbox for Characterisation of Nanoparticle Size and Concentration by Interlaboratory Comparisons

Ruud Peters et al. Molecules. .

Erratum in

Abstract

ACEnano is an EU-funded project which aims at developing, optimising and validating methods for the detection and characterisation of nanomaterials (NMs) in increasingly complex matrices to improve confidence in the results and support their use in regulation. Within this project, several interlaboratory comparisons (ILCs) for the determination of particle size and concentration have been organised to benchmark existing analytical methods. In this paper the results of a number of these ILCs for the characterisation of NMs are presented and discussed. The results of the analyses of pristine well-defined particles such as 60 nm Au NMs in a simple aqueous suspension showed that laboratories are well capable of determining the sizes of these particles. The analysis of particles in complex matrices or formulations such as consumer products resulted in larger variations in particle sizes within technologies and clear differences in capability between techniques. Sunscreen lotion sample analysis by laboratories using spICP-MS and TEM/SEM identified and confirmed the TiO2 particles as being nanoscale and compliant with the EU definition of an NM for regulatory purposes. In a toothpaste sample orthogonal results by PTA, spICP-MS and TEM/SEM agreed and stated the TiO2 particles as not fitting the EU definition of an NM. In general, from the results of these ILCs we conclude that laboratories are well capable of determining particle sizes of NM, even in fairly complex formulations.

Keywords: analysis; benchmarking; interlaboratory comparison; nanomaterials.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Results for the particle size reported by participants in the PTA ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Results for the particle size reported by the participants in the spICP-MS ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Results for the particle number concentration reported by participants in the spICP-MS ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Results for the particle size of the TiO2 particle reported by the participants in the TEM/SEM ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results for the particle size of the AuNP particle reported by the participants in the TEM/SEM ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Results for the particle size of the BaSO4 particle NPs reported by the participants in the TEM/SEM ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Results for the particle size in sample A reported by participants in the DLS ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Results for the particle size in sample B reported by participants in the DLS ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Results for the particle size reported by participants in the AF4 ILC. The straight line indicates the consensus value, the dotted lines one and three times the robust standard deviation.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Results for the mean particle size reported by participants in the sun screen lotion sample. From left to right the results for PTA, spICP-MS and TEM/SEM are shown. The straight lines indicate the consensus values.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Results for the mean particle size reported by participants in the toothpaste sample. From left to right the results for PTA, spICP-MS and TEM/SEM are shown. The straight lines indicate the consensus values.
Figure 12
Figure 12
TEM image of the small elongated TiO2 particles in the sunscreen lotion sample. The larger particles in the centre of the image are ZnO particles (according to EDX analysis).
Figure 13
Figure 13
TEM image of the TiO2 particles in the toothpaste sample. While these are more discrete particles than in the sunscreen lotion, some aggregation is observed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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