Validation of a particle tracking analysis method for the size determination of nano- and microparticles

Abstract

Particle tracking analysis (PTA) is an emerging technique suitable for size analysis of particles with external dimensions in the nano- and sub-micrometre scale range. Only limited attempts have so far been made to investigate and quantify the performance of the PTA method for particle size analysis. This article presents the results of a validation study during which selected colloidal silica and polystyrene latex reference materials with particle sizes in the range of 20 nm to 200 nm were analysed with NS500 and LM10-HSBF NanoSight instruments and video analysis software NTA 2.3 and NTA 3.0. Key performance characteristics such as working range, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, sensitivity, robustness, precision and trueness were examined according to recommendations proposed by EURACHEM. A model for measurement uncertainty estimation following the principles described in ISO/IEC Guide 98-3 was used for quantifying random and systematic variations. For nominal 50 nm and 100 nm polystyrene and a nominal 80 nm silica reference materials, the relative expanded measurement uncertainties for the three measurands of interest, being the mode, median and arithmetic mean of the number-weighted particle size distribution, varied from about 10% to 12%. For the nominal 50 nm polystyrene material, the relative expanded uncertainty of the arithmetic mean of the particle size distributions increased up to 18% which was due to the presence of agglomerates. Data analysis was performed with software NTA 2.3 and NTA 3.0. The latter showed to be superior in terms of sensitivity and resolution.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11051-017-3966-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Ionotropic gelation method in the synthesis of nanoparticles/microparticles for biomedical purposes

“…The dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique is usually performed to find the size of nanoparticles in dispersion . The hydrodynamic diameter, PDI and zeta potential of the particles can be determined by this technique.…”

“…Assumed to be an accurate technique to measure size, with less interference of particle aggregates than in DLS, particle tracking analysis is used for both nanoparticles and microparticles . This technique can also be used to count particles, which is a feature not present in DLS .…”

Single‐Particle Tracking for Understanding Polydisperse Nanoparticle Dispersions

“…SPT can be an efficient and thorough technique for the study of polydisperse nanomaterial samples as particles of disparate sizes can be observed and studied simultaneously without bias. To this end, commercial SPT instruments were developed to size particles of the nanometer range …”

“…To this end, commercial SPT instruments were developed to size particles of the nanometer range. [28] In this contribution, we perform SPT on a series of dispersions and analysis using Maximum A posteriori Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (MApNTA), [29] a new Bayesian method developed in our laboratory for estimation of the PSD. Commonly produced nanoparticles were explored, including single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) dispersed using a variety of agents such as ss(GT) 15 -DNA and SDS.…”

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“…(NTA), generally consists of sample preparation, video recording and video analysis, equipped with a sample chamber with a 640-nm laser and a Viton Fluor elastomer Oring. Sample preparation often requires diluting the supplied sample in an aqueous medium such as purified water until the particle concentration is within the recommended range of 10 7 to 10 9 particles/mL 16 . The samples were injected in the sample chamber with normal syringe until the liquid reached the tip of the nozzle 15 .…”