In
the past decade, the development of single particle–inductively
coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SP-ICPMS) has revolutionized the
field of nanometallomics. Besides differentiation between dissolved
and particulate metal signals, SP-ICPMS can quantify the nanoparticle
(NP) number concentration and size. Because SP-ICPMS is limited to
characterization of NPs in solution, we show how solid sampling by
laser ablation (LA) adds spatial-resolution characteristics for localized
NP analysis in biomaterials. Using custom-made gelatin standards doped
with dissolved gold and commercial or synthesized gold nanoparticles,
LA-SP-ICPMS conditions such as laser fluence, beam size, and dwell
time were optimized for NP analysis to minimize NP degradation, peak
overlap, and interferences from dissolved gold. A data-processing
algorithm to retrieve the NP number concentration and size was developed
for this purpose. As a proof-of-concept, a sunflower-root-sample cross-section,
originating from a sunflower plant exposed to gold NPs, was successfully
imaged using the optimized LA-SP-ICPMS conditions for localized NP
characterization.
Advanced data processing and visualization techniques were applied to laser ablation – single particle – inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-sp-ICPMS) data obtained from imaging of roots of sunflower (Helianthus...
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