The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN) has announced an event to review the possible effects of nanomaterials on man and the environment.
The one-day seminar will examine the complex issues surrounding recent advances in the measurement and characterisation of nanomaterials throughout the whole product cycle.
Engineered Nanomaterials can offer business opportunities for new and existing products by increasing performance, replacing toxic alternatives and completely displacing inferior and wasteful technologies.
A major issue related to this is the potential for accidental and intentional release of nanomaterials that have potentially not undergone enough rigorous testing, leading to human and environmental exposure.
By hosting this event, the NanoKTN aims to bring experts in standards, occupational health, toxicity and ecotoxicity together with equipment producers and providers of analytical facilities.
Networking sessions will provide a forum where experts can discuss the advances and issues in this field, meet and explore business and research opportunities with others and evaluate testing methods and manufacturing processes.
There will also be an opportunity for delegates to see first-hand the capabilities of new technologies in the nanoscale world through an exhibition.
Speakers include Dr Alison Crossley, manager, Oxford Materials Characterisation Services (Begbroke Nano), whose presentation will provide an outline of how we should be approaching the characterisation of nanomaterials.
Crossley will focus on inorganic nanoparticles and characterisation protocols, which will be discussed along with an overview of the methods for detecting nanoparticles in various matrices.
Dr Patrick Hole, Head of Development, Nanosight, will assess the complete distribution of nanoparticle sizes within a suspension, which is notoriously difficult to carry out.
This is especially the case for engineered nanoparticles in the environment which are frequently polydispersed.
Dr Hole will describe Nanosight's Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) technique, which sizes nanoparticles in suspension based on their Brownian motion.
Unlike classical light scattering techniques, NTA allows nanoparticles to be sized on a particle-by-particle basis.
This results in a higher resolution and therefore a better understanding of aggregation than ensemble methods and it also yields directly a count/concentration measurement, NanoKTN claims.
The event will also see presentations from representatives at Ionbond, LGC, National Physical Laboratory, Naneum, Health and Safety laboratory, Safenano, Prospect, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), Bionanonet and the universities of Oxford and Birmingham.
This event is supported by the Chemistry Innovation and Materials KTNs and the National Measurement Network.
