Aquatic environmental nanoparticles

Abstract

Researchers are now discovering that naturally occurring environmental nanoparticles can play a key role in important chemical characteristics and the overall quality of natural and engineered waters. The detection of nanoparticles in virtually all water domains, including the oceans, surface waters, groundwater, atmospheric water, and even treated drinking water, demonstrates a distribution near ubiquity. Moreover, aquatic nanoparticles have the ability to influence environmental and engineered water chemistry and processes in a much different way than similar materials of larger sizes. This review covers recent advances made in identifying nanoparticles within water from a variety of sources, and advances in understanding their very interesting properties and reactivity that affect the chemical characteristics and behaviour of water. In the future, this science will be important in our vital, continuing efforts in water safety, treatment, and remediation.

Using FlFFF and aTEM to determine trace metal–nanoparticle associations in riverbed sediment

“…Also, the presence of Ti oxides has been previously reported in this particular river system, although the mineral phase itself could not be determined in that study. [13] It was more common for the Fe oxides to host Zn and As, while brookite was a more frequent host for Pb. These particles were also almost exclusively nanoparticles.…”

“…A subset of colloidal material, nanoparticles (at least one dimension less than a few tens of nanometres) have been shown to display properties differing from those of bulk material of the same phase. [12][13][14][15] These property changes include such things as increased capacity to sorb metals or an altered redox potential. While some of the property changes are directly related to the increase of specific surface area, some are emerging from changes in the surface properties and chemistry of these surfaces at or below certain particle sizes.…”

Growth of non-phototrophic microorganisms using solar energy through mineral photocatalysis

“…The semiconducting minerals, such as oxides and sulfides used in this study, commonly exist on Earth's surface 32,33 . Autotrophic, heterotrophic, and soil bacterial communities are all ubiquitous in nature.…”

Particulate Phases Possibly Conveyed from Nuclear Waste Repositories by Groundwater

“…In fact, the indicated values represent the pore dimensions of the filtering membranes which are used for separating the particles. The lower boundary of the colloidal particles dimension is accepted to be, as a general rule, ≈1 nm, a circumstance which authorizes, from a certain perspective, the assimilation of colloids to nanoparticles Wigginton et al, 2007). An important characteristic of the aquatic colloids, useful in distinguishing them from the suspended particles, consists in the fact that their vertical movement is not significantly affected by gravitational settling (Gustafsson & Gschwend, 1997;Stumm & Morgan, 1996).…”

“…Particles dimensions may be very different, ranging from those of the colloids, up to microscopic particles, generically designated as "suspended particulate matter". Their reactivity and their ability of binding and conveying contaminants is to a certain extent controlled by their dimension, namely their reactivity is progressively enhanced as the particulate phase is more finely dispersed (Kersting & Zavarin, 2011;Wigginton et al, 2007). This is also the reason why an increased interest is dedicated to the radionuclides behaviour in the presence of the colloidal matter.…”