Author Archive

New Advisory Board members for ES Nano

The Environmental Science: Nano team is very pleased to welcome two new researchers to our Advisory Board!


Dr Sara E. Mason

Dr. Sara E. Mason is an associate professor and the director of graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Iowa, where she began her independent career in 2010. She leads a research group that uses theory and modeling to advance the molecular-level understanding of nanomaterials in the environment or under operational conditions. Dr Mason was previously one of ES:Nano’s Emerging Investigators.

Read Dr Mason’s most recent ES:Nano paper here.

 

 


Dr Giannis Mpourmpakis (Ioannis Bourmpakis)

Dr. Giannis Mpourmpakis is the Bicentennial Alumni Faculty Fellow, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh (USA) and a Guest Professor in the Department of Physics at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden). He received his PhD from the Chemistry Department, at the University of Crete (Greece) and he was a Marie-Curie fellow and Senior Researcher in the Chemical Engineering Department, at the University of Delaware (USA). His research focuses on the first-principles-based multiscale modeling of nanomaterials for energy and environmental applications. He has received several awards, such as the National Science Foundation CAREER award (2017) and the 2019 Bodossaki Foundation Distinguished Young Scientist Prize. He has been highlighted as “Emerging Investigator” by the ACS Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data (2018) and as an emerging scholar in “Futures” by AIChE (2020). For his contributions to education, Prof. Mpourmpakis was awarded the 2016 James Pommersheim Award for Excellence in Teaching in Chemical Engineering by the University of Pittsburgh. He has been serving as the President of the Pittsburgh-Cleveland Catalysis Society and he has organized several scientific sessions at national and international meetings (AIChE, ACS, NACS, etc).


Please join us in warmly welcoming both Sarah and Ioannis to our Advisory Board!

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Assessing the effects of Natural Water Chemistry on Silver Nanoparticles

As nanotechnology continues to develop at a fast growing speed, more research efforts should focus on the assessment of nanotoxicity in order to better understand whether engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) pose hazards upon exposure. ENPs have been used in a large variety of products (from toothpaste, soap, sunscreen lotion to plastic ware, electronics, cement, paint, etc.) and therefore the likelihood for ecological exposure to these nanoproducts in relation to their leachable by-products is inevitable.

Dubey and co-workers highlight the importance of assessing the interaction of ENPs with naturally occurring colloids in relation to environmental factors. Upon entering the aquatic system, these factors could modify their colloidal stability and ultimately affect their toxicity. Their studies focused on silver nanoparticles (AgNP) which have been widely used for their broad spectrum of antimicrobial and plasmonic properties. In particular, Dubey et al investigated the potential effects of multiple water chemistry on the colloidal stability, dissolution rate and antibacterial activity of citrate-coated silver nanoparticles (Citrate-AgNPs) against Escherichia coli. Concomitantly, toxicity studies of Citrate–AgNPs and AgNO3 were also performed in the river water samples collected across three seasons.

The work carried out by Dubey and co-workes underlines the importance of evaluating aquatic toxicity of ENPs in order to understand the potential implications on the ecosystem’s health and functions.

Graphical abstract: Natural water chemistry (dissolved organic carbon, pH, and hardness) modulates colloidal stability, dissolution, and antimicrobial activity of citrate functionalized silver nanoparticles

Read the full article for free!

Natural Water Chemistry (Dissolved Organic Carbon, pH, and Hardness) Modulates Colloidal Stability, Dissolution, and Antimicrobial Activity of Citrate Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles
Lok R. Pokhrel, Brajesh Dubey and Phillip R. Scheuerman
Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3EN00017F

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