Surface coatings, including paints, stains, and sealants, have recently become a focus of “nano-enabled” consumer product engineering. Specifically, cerium dioxide (CeO2) nanoparticles (NPs) have been introduced to surface coatings to increase UV resistance. As more products available for purchase are made with NPs, questions arise regarding the long term environmental and human health effects of these materials. Additionally, a lack of regulation and public awareness allows companies to provide little readily available information about the NP composition of their products. This study aims to understand the transformation of metal oxide NPs commonly included in surface coatings using CeO2 as a test particle. Control experiments were completed by incubating CeO2 NPs dispersed in NP free deck stains in multiple synthetic biological fluids (SBFs) in order to model inhalation and ingestion that could occur during product application and use. Subsamples were removed throughout incubation, sequential filtered and analyzed via ICP-OES to determine both the total and non-particulate cerium concentration. Cerium dissolution was found to be dependent on the pH of the SBF used in incubation regardless of product matrix. Both total and non-particulate cerium concentrations were seen to decrease over time. Future analysis will focus on other relevant NPs used in commercial surface coatings including Ag and TiO2.

Transformation of CeO2 nanoparticles in synthetic lung fluids

ACS Spring 2022

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