asymmetrical-flow-field-flow-fractionation-for-sizing-gold

Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation for Sizing of Gold Nanoparticles in Suspension

Particle size is arguably the most important physico-chemical parameter associated with the notion of a nanoparticle. Precise knowledge of the size and ...

Postnova Analytics GmbH

The dimensional characterization of insoluble, inorganic particles, such as zinc oxide ZnO, dispersed in cosmetic or pharmaceutical formulations, is of great interest considering the current need of declaring the possible presence of nanomaterials on the label of commercial products. This work compares the separation abilities of Centrifugal- and Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation techniques (CF3 and AF4, respectively), equipped with UV-vis, MALS and DLS detectors, in size sorting ZnO particles, both as pristine powders and after their extraction from cosmetic matrices. ZnO particles, bare and superficially modified with triethoxycaprylyl silane, were used as test materials. To identify the most suitable procedure necessary to isolate the ZnO particles from the cosmetic matrix, two O/W and two W/O emulsions were formulated on purpose. The suspensions, containing the extracted particles ZnO, were separated by both Field-Flow Fractionation (FFF) techniques to establish a common analysis protocol, applicable for the analysis of ZnO particles extracted from three commercial products, sold in Europe for the baby skin care. Key aspects of this study were the selection of an appropriate dispersing agent enabling the particles to stay in stable suspensions (>24h)and the use of multiple detectors (UV-vis, MALS and DLS) coupled on-line with the FFF channels, to determine the particle dimensions without using the retention parameters. Between the two FFF techniques, CF3 revealed to be the most robust one, able to sort all suspensions created in this work.

Investigation of zinc oxide particles in cosmetic products by means of centrifugal and asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation.

Nanoplastic pollution is an emerging environmental concern, but current analytical approaches are facing limitations in this size range. However, the coupling of nanoparticle separation with chemical characterization bears potential to close this gap. Here, we realize the hyphenation of particle separation/characterization (field-flow fractionation (FFF), UV, and multiangle light scattering) with subsequent chemical identification by online Raman microspectroscopy (RM). The problem of low Raman scattering was overcome by trapping particles with 2D optical tweezers. This setup enabled RM to identify particles of different materials (polymers and inorganic) in the size range from 200 nm to 5 μm, with concentrations in the order of 1 mg/L (10 particles L). The hyphenation was realized for asymmetric flow FFF and centrifugal FFF, which separate particles on the basis of different properties. This technique shows potential for application in nanoplastic analysis, as well as many other fields of nanomaterial characterization.

Vanessa Sogne

Research & Development

Postnova Analytics GmbH

Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation for Sizing of Gold Nanoparticles in Suspension

Vanessa Sogne

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Postnova Analytics GmbH

Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation for Sizing of Gold Nanoparticles in Suspension

Research & Development