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Behavior of colloidal gold nanoparticles in different ionic strength media

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Abstract

The increased applications of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) may lead to environmental release and transport to estuarine environments where NPs are expected to aggregate/agglomerate with increasing ionic strength. However, more stable NPs that may be resistant to high ionic strength media and more dispersed in the aquatic environment are being synthesized. Thus, understanding colloidal NPs’ behavior in different ionic strength media is crucial for the assessment of the consequences of their environmental release. This work assessed the behavior of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), with diverse sizes and coatings, in media with different ionic strengths (from biological buffers to artificial seawater). Overall, in biological buffers and artificial seawater, citrate-coated AuNPs were unstable, displaying significantly increased sizes (between 100 and 400 nm), whereas no significant alterations (less than 5 % oscillation) were found for AuNPs with other coatings (bovine serum albumin, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and polyethylene glycol). Data suggest that coated AuNPs, and probably other NPs, may be dispersed in the environment from freshwater to estuarine systems.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported through the COMPETE—Operational Competitiveness Program and national funds through FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project “NANOAu - Effects of Gold Nanoparticles to Aquatic Organisms” (FCT PTDC/MAR-EST/3399/2012) (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029435), “UID/AMB/50017/2013,” “Pest-C/CTM/LA0011/2013” and CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679  (FCT Ref. UID /CTM /50011/2013), financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC and when appropriate co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. A. Barreto had a fellowship from FCT (BI/UI88/6593/2013); M. Oliveira and A. V. Girão have a post-doc fellowship from FCT (SFRH/BPD/85107/2012 and SFRH/BPD/66407/2009, respectively) supported by the European Social Fund and national funds from the “Ministério da Educação e Ciência (POPH – QREN – Tipologia 4.1)” of Portugal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology & CESAM, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ângela Barreto, Luis G. Luis, Amadeu M. V. M. Soares & Miguel Oliveira

  2. Department of Chemistry & CICECO, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ana V. Girão & Tito Trindade

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  1. Ângela Barreto
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  2. Luis G. Luis
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  3. Ana V. Girão
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  6. Miguel Oliveira
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Correspondence to Miguel Oliveira.

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Barreto, Â., Luis, L.G., Girão, A.V. et al. Behavior of colloidal gold nanoparticles in different ionic strength media. J Nanopart Res 17, 493 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-015-3302-0

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