The growth in nanotechnology applications comprised of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has led to a significant interest in understanding their possible environmental and human health impacts. The diversity of commercially available AgNP products are often proprietary, not well-defined, and undergo rapid surface oxidation and dissolution of Ag+ making their assessment difficult to study. Consequently, there is a gap in our current understanding of the relative contribution of physicochemical parameters such as shape, size, and surface coating to nanoparticle stability, nanoparticle-biological interactions (NBI), biouptake, and ecotoxicity. Given the critical need to identify features of AgNPs over Ag+ that induce toxicity and disrupt ecosystems, well-defined AgNPs with tightly-controlled size and shape that can be modified to tune Ag+ release is of significant interest. Here we discuss the design of hybrid lipid-coated AgNPs of varying shapes and sizes that are differentially shielded from surface oxidation. We will present UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and ICP-MS studies characterizing the stability of the hybrid lipid-coated AgNPs. We will present ICP-MS data evaluating the AgNPs for Ag+ ion release and will show that AgNPs that are completely shielded from surface oxidation does not release Ag+ ions. The toxicity and distribution of AgNPs in using zebrafish models will also be presented to identify features of AgNPs that drive toxicity, nanoparticle distribution, and NBI’s. These studies will provide valuable information on the toxicity of AgNPs and Ag+ ions release into its surroundings while also providing a potential template for designs on safer nanoparticles.

Solving the mystery between silver and silver nanoparticles: Who’s toxic?

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.