The unique properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have enabled their increased use for a range of environmental, medical, and commercial applications. However, the increased use of ENMs has led to their release into the environment during production, use, and disposal. Once there, ENMs undergo several dynamic transformations (e.g., dissolution, aggregation, formation of eco-coronas, etc.), which alter their physicochemical properties and affect their fate and transport. To fully characterize ENM properties in relevant matrices, sensitive, selective, and quantitative analytical tools are needed. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a powerful instrumental separation technique that separates analytes based on charge and size, and that offers several detection strategies including UV-vis, laser induced fluorescence (LIF), and mass spectrometry. Traditionally, CE has been used for the analysis of small, charged molecules like proteins, peptides, DNA, and inorganic ions. More recently, work conducted by our lab and others has shown that CE is also a useful tool for the analysis of nanomaterials. Specifically, our lab is using CE with UV-vis detection to quantify eco-coronas formed on silver nanoparticles using a pull-down assay. The assay involves incubation of AgNPs with mixtures of adsorbates (humic substances and proteins), centrifugation and washing to isolate unbound and loosely bound adsorbates in the supernatant, and quantitative analysis of the supernatant using capillary electrophoresis (CE) to determine the corona composition. Preliminary characterization of NP-adsorbate complexes and optimization of the CE-based pull-down assay will be presented.

Using capillary electrophoresis to quantify competitive adsorption of eco-corona constituents to silver nanoparticles

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