The increasing applications of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in various fields has raised concerns about their potential environmental and toxicological implications. It’s very critical to monitor and determine the concentration of ENMs that had been released into the environment. Single-particle inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (sp-ICP-MS) has been suggested as a powerful tool to detect and quantitatively analyze ENMs in environmental samples even at relatively low concentrations and complicated matrices. Here we applied sp-ICP-MS to detect ENMs in two very different environmental samples. In the first scenario, we exposed edible plant tissues from lettuce, kale and collard green to nano-CuO, simulating its use as a nanopesticide and primary release of ENMs. We applied sp-ICP-MS to demonstrate the presence of nanoparticles, both in the water used to rinse crop leaf surfaces exposed to nCuO, as well as within the leaf tissues. Lettuces retained the highest amounts of nCuO NPs on the leaf surface, followed by collard green and then kale. Surface hydrophilicity and roughness of the leaf surfaces played an important role in retaining nCuO. In the second scenario, we analyzed the water samples collected from wastewater treatment plant to compare the residual concentrations of ENMs at different treatment stages. Ag ENMs were detected in raw wastewater, and its concentration was significantly minimized after primary and secondary treatment. The results indicate that most of the nanoparticles are removed via treatment, for example, filtration, but that a certain fraction would remain in effluent water and can result in human exposure, albeit at low levels. It demonstrated that sp-ICP-MS offers a great approach for quantitative analysis of ENMs in environmental samples including water and some biological tissues.<br/>

Detection and quantitation of engineered nanomaterials in environmental samples via single particle ICP-MS

256th National Meeting (2018)

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