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Broadening our view on nanomaterials: highlighting potentials to contribute to a sustainable materials management in preliminary assessments

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Abstract

Apart from completely novel functionalities, the utilization of nanomaterials (NMs) holds great promise for increasing the performance and efficiency of products and processes. In doing so, they are also expected to be more sustainable in that they may allow for products and processes that can provide better services using less material and energy. However, whether or not NMs do in fact contribute sustainable development still remains a matter of debate. While a relatively high number of risk assessment studies have revealed some of the toxicological and ecotoxicological repercussions of NMs, other sustainability related issues have so far received comparatively little attention. One of these issues refers to the sustainability implications of material use, such as environmental impacts of materials supply, resource depletion, or material criticality. Here, we argue that an adequate assessment of NM-based innovations calls for an inclusion not only of human health and environmental risks but also of aspects related to sustainable materials management. Recognizing the inherent complexity of sustainability issues as well as the difficulties of meeting data needs in early innovation stages, we propose a prospective and preliminary framework to assess the potential benefits and risks of NM-based innovations. We demonstrate the framework's practicability and usefulness in decision-making contexts by applying it to four in-depth case studies of specific NM-based innovations. Also, we point to some methodological issues that may need consideration in the further improvement of the framework.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Authors' contribution

All three co-authors collaboratively contributed to conception and design of the research and the methodological framework, and wrote the paper. Christian Pade was the lead author on the section of photovoltaics; Henning Wigger was the lead author on the sections on the concrete and MRI case studies, and Till Zimmermann was the lead author on the sections on sustainable materials management (including resource efficiency, criticality, and dissipation) and on the case study on permanent magnets. Insights on the assessment of nanotechnologies and their release have mainly been provided by Henning Wigger. Christian Pade critically revised the paper regarding aspects of decision support and innovation assessment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Technological Design and Development, Faculty of Production Engineering, University of Bremen, Badgasteiner Str. 1, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Henning Wigger, Till Zimmermann & Christian Pade

  2. ARTEC – Research Center for Sustainability Studies, Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 7, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Till Zimmermann

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  1. Henning Wigger
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Correspondence to Henning Wigger.

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Wigger, H., Zimmermann, T. & Pade, C. Broadening our view on nanomaterials: highlighting potentials to contribute to a sustainable materials management in preliminary assessments. Environ Syst Decis 35, 110–128 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-014-9530-5

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