Detection of iron oxide nanoparticles in petroleum hydrocarbon media by single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS)

Analytical applications of single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: a comprehensive and critical review

“…This strategy has also been applied to the detection of naturally occurring iron oxide nanoparticles in crude oil and residual fuel oil by spiking in-lab synthesized silica-shelled Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles. 57 Alternatively, the agreement between the total element content determined by acid digestion and ICP-MS can be used for confirmation of the results, as in the determination of Ce, Cd and Pt-bearing nanoparticles in road runoff sediments 56 or Au nanoparticles in tumour cells after alkaline digestion. 58 However, if the sample contains nanoparticles smaller than the LOD, [54][55][56] size information will be overestimated and number/mass concentration underestimated in consequence.…”

“…In that way, the yttrium contained in nanotubes allowed their detection, 73,74 although the concentration was underestimated due to the difficulties of detecting nanotubes with low loads of yttrium. The characterisation of pristine nanoparticle by SP-ICP-MS has been complemented by electron microscopy techniques for size and shape characterisation 57,61,64,65,[68][69][70]73,74 and XRD 68,69,72,75 for confirmation of their nature through their crystalline structure.…”

“…Owing to their specific properties at the nanoscale level, nanoparticles are currently contained in numerous consumer and industrial products. The nano-enhanced products analysed by SP-ICP-MS are summarized in Table 3; they consist of consumer, mainly cosmetics, 53,[77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85] and industrial products, including food additives 43,46,89 and other materials, like steel, 90 petroleum products 57,91 or tattoo inks. 92,93 Nanoparticles in cosmetics are mainly focused on sunscreens, [77][78][79]84 in which TiO2 is the most frequent nanocomponent due to its photocatalytical properties, although ZnO has also been studied in this type of products.…”

“…Raw samples of E171 46,89 and E174 43 have been characterised by SP-ICP-MS in combination with other techniques to obtain information about the nanoparticulate fraction in these materials. In the case of steels, 90 the aim of the analysis was the characterisation of refractory particles of titanium and niobium carbonitrides, whereas in petroleum products (crude and fuel oil, 57 and asphaltene solutions 91 ) was the detection of iron and molybdenum containing particles. In a similar way, tattoo inks 92,93 were analysed to study the occurrence of nanoparticulate Al, Ti, Cu, Cr, Zn and Pb from the pigments used in their fabrication, or the presence of copper nanoparticles in homeopathic medicines.…”

Analysis of gold nanoparticles in a hydrocarbon solvent by single particle-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS) and TEM

“…Our group has been focusing on the applications of spICP-MS to characterize NPs in petroleum feedstocks, those that contain one or more hydrocarbon classes (e.g., linear, branched, or cyclic alkanes and aromatics). In this sense, only three examples of spICP-MS analysis use for NPs in hydrocarbons are reported in the literature [17][18][19]. So far, no available RM for gold determination in hydrocarbon media is available.…”