Engineered nanoparticles (NPs) are currently being researched due to the wide varieties of applications they enable, such as microelectronics, next-generation batteries, and Nano therapeutics. Unfortunately, engineered NPs may pose a health risk in both humans and in the environment. Therefore, as nanomaterial-enabled technologies become more common, it will be essential to develop NP sensors that can rapidly detect and quantify the concentration of NPs in the environment. Currently, detecting and identifying engineered NPs requires relatively high-cost and low-throughput characterization techniques (such as electron microscopy). We are investigating a simple NP detector that is low-cost and offers rapid response time (&lt; 30s), composed solely of six commonly available pH indicators. The indicators were exposed to  citrate-stabilized, poly allylamine hydrochloride (PAH), and polyacrylate (PAA)-wrapped 12 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Each indicator is not specific to the NPs, but the overall color change of the indicator array gives a response which is specific to each NP surface chemistry tested. Similar indicator arrays have previously been used to detect a variety of compounds, including volatile organics, metals, and metal oxides. Thus far, we have used the indicator arrays to successfully detect  aqueous solutions of 12 nm AuNPs at a particle concentration as low as 1 x10<sup>-10</sup>M.

Detection and identification of negatively-charged gold nanoparticles using pH indicator arrays

251st National Meeting (2016)

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