Nanotechnology is a new and quickly expanding field.  An increasing variety of semiconductor nanoparticles are being utilized in research, industrial products, and technology for consumer products, from application in smart phones to biomedicine. Despite the fact that they are already in such high use, and continue to increase in use, very little is known about the toxic effects of most nanoparticles. Current studies on nanotoxicity make opposing conclusions or find it difficult to see clear trends in data. We hypothesize that the discrepancies seen in these studies can be explained and remedied with in-depth characterization of nanoparticles prior to use in toxicology studies. Due to the nature of nanomaterials and their size-dependent properties, small variations in the size, shape, or phase of nanoparticles may result in a large variation in physical and, by extension, toxic properties. Characterization can be used to detect these variations and in turn related to trends we see in toxicology data. Various semiconductor nanoparticles, such as TiO2, CdSe, CuInS2 and related materials, were synthesized by several synthetic methods. The nanoparticles were thoroughly characterized by XRD, UV-vis, ICP, TGA, AFM, SEM, and TEM to determine their exact nature, composition, and size. Commercial nanoparticles were also run through the same characterization process to provide a comparison. Through close collaboration between the Chemistry and Biology departments at ISU, these in-house synthesized and commercial nanomaterials were then tested to determine their toxic effects on biological systems via cell response and gene expression upon exposure to these nanoparticles.

Preparation and characterization of semiconductor nanoparticles for toxicological studies

248th National Meeting (2014)

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