Table 3 Applicability of a range of analytical techniques to providing specific physicochemical information on engineered nanomaterials, in the context of toxicity screening studies
| Analytical technique | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) | Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) | X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) | X-ray Photon Spectroscopy (XPS) | Auger Spectroscopy (AES) | Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) | Scanning Probe Microscopy | Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) | Zeta potential | Size Exclusion Chromatography | Analytical Ultracentrifugation | Differential Mobility Analysis (DMA) | Isothermal Adsorption (e.g. BET) | Spectroscopic techniques (UV vis, IR, Raman, NMR) | Elemental analysis (eg ICP-MS/AA etc) | ||
| Physicochemical Characteristic | Size distribution (primary particles) | ▲ | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |||||||
| Shape | ▲ | ● | ● |
|
| |||||||||||
| Surface area | ● | ◇ | ◇ | ◇ | ◇ |
| ● | |||||||||
| Composition | ● | ● | ● | ▲ | ● | ▲ | ||||||||||
| Surface chemistry | ● |
| ● | ● |
|
| ◇ |
| ||||||||
| Surface contamination |
| ● | ● |
|
| |||||||||||
| Surface charge – suspension/solution | ▲ | |||||||||||||||
| Surface charge – powder (use bio fluid surrogate) | ▲ | |||||||||||||||
| Crystal structure | ● | ◇ | ▲ | |||||||||||||
| Particle physicochemical structure | ▲ | ● |
| |||||||||||||
| Agglomeration state | ▲ | ● |
| ● |
|
|
| ● | ||||||||
| Porosity | ◇ | ● | ● | |||||||||||||
| Heterogeneity | ▲ | ● | ◇ |
| ||||||||||||
- Other applicable techniques are available that have not been listed.
- ▲Highly applicable
- ● Capable of providing information in some cases
-
Capable of providing information in some cases, with validation from more accurate/applicable techniques - ◇ Capable of providing qualitative or semi-quantitative information