DETECÇÃO E QUANTIFICAÇÃO DE NANOPARTÍCULAS DE PRATA POR SPICP-MS

DETECTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES BY spICP-MS. The growing interest in nanotechnology has led to an increase in the production and application of nanoparticles worldwide. Due to the unique functional properties of nanoparticles, these materials are being used by many industries, including the agricultural and food sectors. Among the commercially available nanomaterials, it is possible to highlight those produced with silver nanoparticles. One of the most promising techniques for the analysis of metallic nanoparticles is the Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) performed in single particle mode (spICP-MS). However, the use of the technique in the detection and measurement of nanoparticles requires that the equipment be operated differently than when used to analyze dissolved metal solutions. Thus, this article presents the use of the spICP-MS technique for the measurement and quantification of nanoparticles, as well as their validation. The method proved to be adequate for the purpose, presenting a satisfactory result for the selectivity test and recovery of 83.7 (40 nm) and 77.6% (80 nm). The detection limits, determined for the most frequent size, dissolved silver concentration and particle concentration, were 17.5 nm, 0.736 ng mL-1,146 particles mL-1, respectively. Thus, the results obtained indicated the possibility of using the technique to determine the size and concentration of silver nanoparticles.