Nanomaterials are being developed for a variety of industrial, biomedical, and environmental applications. In order to mitigate any potential environmental impact and create nanomaterials that are sustainable, the mechanisms that govern nanomaterial toxicity need to be understood. However, there is still a question as to how the physiochemical properties govern toxicity. Variations in nanomaterial surface chemistry may influence nanoparticle toxicity by changing nanoparticle interactions with organisms and directly contributing to toxicity. In this study, the impacts of differentially functionalized gold and diamond nanoparticles on mortality, reproduction, and body size in the toxicological model species, Daphnia magna, were compared over acute and chronic exposures. Acute assays show that negatively charged gold nanoparticles are orders of magnitude less toxic than the positively charged gold nanoparticles. The results show that certain ligands used in nanoparticle functionalization can directly contribute to and increase toxicity of nanomaterials. Nanomaterials may also increase the toxicity of ligands by increasing the delivery of ligands to the organism therefore localizing ligand concentration and exposure. In addition, similarly functionalized diamond and gold nanoparticles have differing consequences on Daphnia. This research indicates nanomaterial toxicity is not solely due to surface charge but also dependent upon other properties such as ligand density, structure or particle stability. These results demonstrate that specific nanomaterial properties have great implications for determining nanomaterial toxicity and creating sustainable nanomaterials may involve several aspects of nanomaterial design.

Impacts of differeing diamond and gold nanomaterial surface chemistries on toxicity to <i>Daphnia magna</i>: Defining trends in nanomaterial toxicity

247th National Meeting (2014)

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Impacts of differeing diamond and gold nanomaterial surface chemistries on toxicity to Daphnia magna: Defining trends in nanomaterial toxicity