Nanomaterials: Fabrication and investigation of dispersions for toxicological studies

Abstract

Although the metallic/metal oxide nanoparticles (Me(O)NPs) are frequently proposed and even used in biomedical applications, a study focused on their toxicological effects in relation with the physico-chemical properties is necessary. This paper is focused on characterization of three types of ligand stabilized Me(O)NPs - silver, gold and iron oxide - synthesized by two-phase liquid-liquid method; thus different methods have been used to obtain a complete image of their state, meaning size, shape, crystallinity, chemical composition, and furthermore surface charge or aglomeration in aqueous suspensions. It is shown that modification of the suspension parameters lead to dramatic changes of the nanoparticles mean size distribution, stability and zeta potential.