NanoFASE experimental work and model development focussed on a panel of ENMs with industrial relevance (see the industrial pathway analysis case studies). To meet the needs of experimental observation, some ENMs obtained from industrial partners needed to be supplemented with lab-synthesized ENMs, for a number of reasons including:

 

 

• Instrumental limitations impacting the ability to measure and characterise properties – e.g. spICP-MS is limited to ENMs above ~20nm
• Need to detect test particles against a background of naturally occurring particles of similar sizes (addressed by synthesis of "doped" or "labelled" particles, e.g. Holmium-labelled TiO₂ ENMs)
• Need for transformed ENMs to realistically mimic the outputs from the different environmental compartments, i.e., Functional Fate Group ENMs (Environmentally or Biota-transformed FFG)
• Interest in systematically varied ENMs, where one parameter at a time is varied (e.g. size, shape, surface functionality etc.) in order to assess the impact of that parameter on a specific behaviour and/or to determine thresholds for effects or behaviours.

Click on the colour key below to see the ENM core compositions utilised in NanoFASE, the chemically doped ENMs, or the chemical transformations that can occur in the environment to produce the Functional Fate Group ENMs.