Journal article
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A hydrofluoric acid-free method to dissolve and quantify silica nanoparticles in aqueous and solid matrices
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Bossert, David
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Urban, Dominic A.
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Maceroni, Mattia
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Ackermann-Hirschi, Liliane
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Haeni, Laetitia
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Yajan, Phattadon
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Spuch-Calvar, Miguel
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Rothen-Rutishauser, Barbara
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland - Nano4Enviroment Unit, Water Quality Group, INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, Portugal
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Petri-Fink, Alke
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland - Chemistry Department, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Schwab, Fabienne
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
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Published in:
- Scientific Reports. - 2019, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 7938
English
As the commercial use of synthetic amorphous silica nanomaterials (SiO2-NPs) increases, their effects on the environment and human health have still not been explored in detail. An often-insurmountable obstacle for SiO2-NP fate and hazard research is the challenging analytics of solid particulate silica species, which involves toxic and corrosive hydrofluoric acid (HF). We therefore developed and validated a set of simple hydrofluoric acid-free sample preparation methods for the quantification of amorphous SiO2 micro- and nanoparticles. To circumvent HF, we dissolved the SiO2- NPs by base-catalyzed hydrolysis at room temperature or under microwave irradiation using potassium hydroxide, replacing the stabilizing fluoride ions with OH−, and exploiting the stability of the orthosilicic acid monomer under a strongly basic pH. Inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) or a colorimetric assay served to quantify silicon. The lowest KOH: SiO2 molar ratio to effectively dissolve and quantify SiO2-NPs was 1.2 for colloidal Stöber SiO2-NPs at a pH >12. Fumed SiO2-NPs (Aerosil®) or food grade SiO2 (E551) containing SiO2-NPs were degradable at higher KOH: SiO2 ratios >8000. Thus, hydrofluoric acid-free SiO2- NP digestion protocols based on KOH present an effective (recoveries of <84%), less hazardous, and easy to implement alternative to current methods.
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Faculty
- Faculté des sciences et de médecine
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Department
- Département de Chimie, AMI - Bio-Nanomatériaux
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Language
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Classification
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Chemistry
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License
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License undefined
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Identifiers
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Persistent URL
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https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/307956
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