Characterization of Surface Adsorption of Engineered Nanoparticles By Collision Electrochemistry

Applications of engineered nanoparticles in many areas, including sensing, water purification, biomedical and environmental fields continue to increase. A key issue in the use of nanoparticles in practical applications is controlling their properties for achieving targeted interactions with the systems of interest. A wide range of nanoparticles such as metal oxide and magnetic nanoparticles are being used and discarded in the environment with little regulations. Although these nanoparticles are found to be relatively non-toxic in their native state, when they are released in the environment they can undergo transformations and interact with small molecules and metal ions which drastically change their properties and toxicity profile. This work will discuss electrochemical studies to investigate the interaction of these particles with heavy metals in the environment. Examples of nanoparticle systems and studies to assess the effect of particle type, surface coatings and environmental composition will be provided along with the parameters controlling adsorption/desorption of toxicants, measured using collision electrochemistry and a suite of spectroscopic procedures. We demonstrate the use of electrochemistry as a powerful tool to quantify heavy metal adsorption and determining mechanisms to predict the interaction of nanoparticles in the environment.