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A comparative interlaboratory study on photocatalytic activity of commercial ZnO and CeO2 nanoparticles

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Abstract

Photocatalytic activity (PCA) was one of a number of physicochemical end points identified by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as relevant to environmental safety and human health as part of their Sponsorship Programme for the Testing of Manufactured Nanomaterial. Photoactive surfaces can produce reactive oxygen species including free radicals which have the potential to cause oxidative stress in tissue or even oxidative damage to DNA. Here we report a study that involved three laboratories in Australia that independently characterised the PCA of commercially available ZnO and CeO2 NPs provided by the OECD programme. This inter-laboratory comparison found that PCA is a stable characteristic of NPs which was insensitive to variations in interlaboratory protocols and with ZnO NPs being more photoactive (by an order of magnitude) than CeO2 NPs. Comparisons were made between NPs of different sizes and the effect of the presence or absence of a surface coating on PCA. Because the competition between surface and volume effects determined PCA, a critical particle size was found for CeO2 NPs to achieve maximum PCA. The presence of a surface coating appeared to significantly mitigate, but not eliminate PCA.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Maxine McCall from CSIRO and Dr. Victoria Coleman from National Measurement Institute (NMI) for coordinating the ZnO and CeO2 particles distribution within three laboratories. We also thank Mr. Richard Harris, Ms. Lynne Waddington and Dr. Thomas Gengenbach, all from CSIRO, for photocatalytic measurement using DHHP, characterising particle sizes and surface analysis respectively, and Dr Rongliang He and Dr Jinfeng Wang from Deakin University for the photocatalysis measurements using RhB.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Private Bag 33, Clayton, VIC, 3169, Australia

    Hong Yin & Philip S. Casey

  2. Research School of Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Australian National University, Ian Ross Building 31, North Road, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

    Takuya Tsuzuki

  3. Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Geelong Technology Precinct, Waurn Ponds, VIC, 3216, Australia

    Keith R. Millington

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  1. Hong Yin
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  2. Takuya Tsuzuki
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  3. Keith R. Millington
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  4. Philip S. Casey
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Correspondence to Hong Yin.

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Yin, H., Tsuzuki, T., Millington, K.R. et al. A comparative interlaboratory study on photocatalytic activity of commercial ZnO and CeO2 nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 16, 2641 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2641-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2641-6

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