The ability to predict the mobility of nanoparticles in the environment will require a detailed understanding of the specific interactions of these materials with the different components of soils and sediments.  Adsorption on any soil component may inhibit aggregation and thereby affect mobility, but interactions with clay minerals will likely affect other soil properties such as permeability because of changes in the degree of swelling of these layered phyllosilicate minerals.  Consequently, an understanding of the feedback processes by which the swelling properties of clay minerals affect - and are affected by- the adsorption of nanoparticles is needed for predictive models of the mobility of nanomaterials in the environment.  In the present study, in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to monitor the changes in swelling properties of individual quasi-crystals of a clay mineral upon exposure to an aqueous suspension of TiO2 nanoparticles.  Comparisons of particles of different size and charge were used to investigate the extent to which these variables influence the nanoparticles' interactions with the clay mineral.  The reversibility of adsorption under different conditions was probed by means of sequential changes to the composition of the fluid cell during imaging.

In situ AFM studies of nano-TiO<sub>2</sub> and swelling clays

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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In situ AFM studies of nano-TiO2 and swelling clays

In situ AFM studies of nano-TiO₂ and swelling clays