Vicki Grassian moves to UC San Diego

Read more about the new affiliation of our Editor-in-Chief

We are delighted to share with our community that our Editor-in-Chief Professor Vicki Grassian has joined the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Nanoengineering and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, USA.

Vicki Grassian, Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Chair of Physical Chemistry, left the University of Iowa, where she held appointments in the Departments of Chemistry, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, and Occupational and Environmental Health.

Prof Grassian’s research focuses on fundamental molecular-based laboratory studies that provide a better molecular understanding of the surface chemistry of complex environmental interfaces.

Her projects include understanding the molecular level details of the heterogeneous chemistry of trace gases with particulate matter such as mineral dust in the atmosphere, dissolution and mobilization of Fe-containing particles, optical properties of atmospheric aerosol and applications and implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology in environmental processes and human health.

In the past five years, Vicki has received several awards for her research including the American Chemical Society National Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology (2012), the Midwest American Chemical Society Award (2014) and the Royal Society of Chemistry John Jeyes Award (2014).

Her appointment at UC San Diego began on the 1st January 2016.

Please join us in wishing Vicki all the best in her new position in UC San Diego!

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2015 SNO Emerging Investigator

Congratulations to Professors Navid Saleh and John Fortner

The SNO Emerging Investigator gives recognition to emerging scientists and engineers working in the area of Sustainable Nanotechnology. Given the high quality of the nominations received, this year we made an exception with two winners being presented with the prize, each receiving US$1500.

Environmental Science: Nano is pleased to announce the recipients of this honour are Professors Navid Saleh and John Fortner.

Winners of the SNO 2015 Award

The picture shows Navid Saleh (SNO2015 Winner, University of Texas at Austin), Sarah Ruthven (Executive Editor, Environmental Science: Nano) and John Fortner (SNO2015 Winner, Washington University in Saint Louis)


Dr. Navid Saleh, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Navid Saleh

Dr. Saleh’s research focuses on both the environmental applications and implications of nanomaterials. He has recently made a breakthrough by successfully up-converting microwave radiation to ultra-violet energy using novel metal-oxide/nanotube nanohybrids materials. In addition, his group has enumerated the mechanisms of heteroaggregation in fresh and saline water environments under a wide range of environmental conditions. He has also developed nanomaterial characterisation techniques in complex biological fluids that enabled discerning the underlying mechanisms of nanotoxicity.

Besides his outstanding scientific contributions, Dr. Saleh is a model mentor and advocate for students. His research provides an excellent platform for engaging students and stimulating awareness of nanotechnology and related advancements and challenges in the field. Students on many levels are afforded opportunities to engage in nanotechnology research including graduate, undergraduate and high school students. He has developed nanotechnology education programs at the undergraduate level using problem-based pedagogical techniques.

Editor-in-Chief Vicki Grassian says that Professor Saleh was selected “because of his pioneering research contributions and his commitment to educating and engaging students in the field of sustainable nanotechnology.”


Dr. John Fortner, Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis

John FortnerDr. Fortner’s research focuses on a combination of nanomaterial design, synthesis, and applications.  He developed many applications with nanomaterials, including heavy metal sorption, separation and sensing in water, carbon dioxide capture, and photocatalysts for hydrogen production. As an independent investigator, he has received numerous awards including a prestigious US-National Science Foundation CAREER award.

Besides his outstanding scientific contributions, Dr. Fortner is also a leader training the next generation of scientists and engineers in the field of sustainable nanotechnology. As an Assistant Professor, he has mentored nearly 30 undergraduates students. He has also played a substantial role in the professional community as well. For example he served as session organizer at the 2015 Environmental Nanotechnology Gordon Research Conference, at the 2015 Global Congress on NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology and the 2014 Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization meeting.

Editor-in-Chief Vicki Grassian says that Dr. Fortner was selected because of “his excellence in research in sustainable nanotechnology and his commitment to mentoring students at all levels.”


Many congratulations from the Environmental Science: Nano team!

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Environmental Science: Nano winners at ICEENN

The 10th International Conference on the Environmental Effects of Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials

Nano 2015 logo

Many congratulations to Olga Zaytseva and Miguel Ángel Gómez González on their poster prize success at the 10th International Conference on the Environmental Effects of Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials, which took place from 6th-10th September 2015 at the University of Vienna, Austria.

As one of the globally leading conferences on environmental nanoscience and nanoecotoxicology, the 10th ICEENN brought together researchers, regulators and industry to discuss the recent advances in the investigations of risks of current and future applications in the key sector of nanotechnology, along with procedures of risk management to maintain the economic and social benefits of the sector. Sessions dealt with key research areas such as analysis of nanomaterials, toxicology and ecotoxicology, and innovation and applications of nanotechnology to environmental issues.

Olga Zaytseva of Hohenheim University, Stuttgart, produced a winning poster entitled ‘Phytotoxicity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in soybean (Glycine max.)‘, while Miguel Ángel Gómez González of the Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, won with his poster entitled ‘Arsenic speciation in contaminated soils by AF4/SP-ICPMS and XAS techniques: Role of colloids in the mobilization of arsenic‘.

The judges of the prizes thought the quality of the presentations and posters was really high and, from the Environmental Science: Nano team, we would like to thank all the students that attended or presented at the meeting.

For more details on ICEENN 2015 please visit the conference website.

Presentation for the prize winners of ICEENN 2015

Many congratulations on this achievement from the Environmental Science: Nano team

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Top 10 most accessed Environmental Science: Nano articles in June 2015

For June 2015, our most downloaded Environmental Science: Nano articles were:

Haoran Wei, Katia Rodriguez, Scott Renneckar and Peter J. Vikesland
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00059E

Jared S. Bozich, Samuel E. Lohse, Marco D. Torelli, Catherine J. Murphy, Robert J. Hamers and Rebecca D. Klaper
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00006D

Haoran Wei, Seyyed M. Hossein Abtahi and Peter J. Vikesland
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00211C

Man Li, Chengwei Wang, Michael J. O’Connell and Candace K. Chan
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00204K

David Speed, Paul Westerhoff, Reyes Sierra-Alvarez, Rockford Draper, Paul Pantano, Shyam Aravamudhan, Kai Loon Chen, Kiril Hristovski, Pierre Herckes, Xiangyu Bi, Yu Yang, Chao Zeng, Lila Otero-Gonzalez, Carole Mikoryak, Blake A. Wilson, Karshak Kosaraju, Mubin Tarannum, Steven Crawford, Peng Yi, Xitong Liu, S. V. Babu, Mansour Moinpour, James Ranville, Manuel Montano, Charlie Corredor, Jonathan Posner and Farhang Shadman
DOI: 10.1039/C5EN00046G

Carl Walkey, Soumen Das, Sudipta Seal, Joseph Erlichman, Karin Heckman, Lina Ghibelli, Enrico Traversa, James F. McGinnis and William T. Self
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00138A

Liqun Ye, Yurong Su, Xiaoli Jin, Haiquan Xie and Can Zhang
DOI: 10.1039/C3EN00098B

Antonia Praetorius, Nathalie Tufenkji, Kai-Uwe Goss, Martin Scheringer, Frank von der Kammer and Menachem Elimelech
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00043A

Interesting read? Let us know your thoughts below.

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Dissolution of electro-spun alumina nanofibers in artificial lung fluids

a blog article by Imali Mudunkotuwa at The University of Iowa

Alumina (Al2O3) nanofibers have potential applications as catalyst support structures, reaction substrates, filtrations devices and sensors as a result of their high thermal stability. On the other hand, the fibrous nature of these materials calls for extra caution because of their potency to cause pulmonary diseases.

Fiber respirability and durability are among the dominant factors contributing towards the potential toxicity. The aerodynamic diameter controls the respirability while dissolution is related to the durability. A fiber is considered bio-durable if the rate at which it dissolves via chemical dissolution is slower than the rate of physical removal by the lung by mechanical action.

Therefore, Hyeon Ung Shin, Aleksandr B. Stefaniak, Nenad Stojilovic and George G. Chase from University of Akron, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh has investigated the dissolution of electrospun Al2O3 nanofibers in human artificial lung fluid and free radical generation to determine the influence of physicochemical properties.

These fibers were prepared using different thermal treatments and were characterized extensively for size, surface morphology, crystal structure and surface area. Then dissolution was measured by incubating the fibers in serum ultrafiltrate and phagolysosomal simulant fluid and analyzing the supernatant using ICP-OES at different time intervals. Dissolution rates were calculated assuming constant dissolution velocity:

Where (1-M/Mo) is the mass fraction of material dissolved, t is the time (days), SSA is the specific surface area (cm2g-1) and k is the chemical dissolution rate constant. The free radical generation was probed using electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR).

The study has shown no effect of physicochemical properties on the Al2O3 dissolution in artificial human lung fluid indicating the differences in the heat treatments does not affect the solubility within lungs. However, greater dissolution rates were observed for the samples with higher heating ramp rates even though their physicochemical properties were similar. No measurable levels of free radicals were generated by these alumina nanofibers.

To access the full article, download a copy for free* by clicking the link below.

Comparative dissolution of electrospun Al2O3 nanofibres in artificial human lung fluids
Hyeon Ung Shin, Aleksandr B. Stefaniak, Nenad Stojilovic and George G. Chase
Environ. Sci: Nano, 2015, 2, 251-261
DOI: 10.1039/C5EN00033E

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Imali Mudunkotuwa

About the webwriter

Imali Mudunkotuwa is a Postdoctoral Scholar and Research Assistant at The University of Iowa. She is interested in nanoscience, physical and surface chemistry. You can find more articles by Imali in her author archive .

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* Access is free until the 06/10/2015 through a registered RSC account

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Nanotechnology – old or new?

an article by Marina Vance (@marinavance), PhD scientist at Virginia Tech

Summer is almost over and so is a whirlwind of environmental engineering- and nanotechnology-related conferences. At a previous environmental nanotechnology-related conference, I had the great experience to participate in a lively debate on a very fundamental, albeit not often asked question in our field: is nanotechnology novel?

At first, one may think this question should not even be open for debate, since the very idea of nanotechnology evokes exciting futuristic thoughts about the future of medicine, solar energy, nanorobots, and even science fiction.

In this recently published paper, Hochella, Spencer, and Jones present an overview of this unexpected debate. Jones moderated a discussion in which Hochella and Spencer, two experts in their respective fields of nanogeoscience and electrical engineering/material science, brought their arguments for and against the following statement:

“The magic of nanomaterials is not new: nature has been playing these tricks for billions of years.”

In my view, nature’s nanostructures can be informative of how the environment responds to nanomaterials and their study is instrumental for informing environmental nanoscience and technology. However, the potential existence of natural analogues to engineered nanostructures is no evidence that there is reduced likelihood of adverse environmental effects, since after all, with the exception of a few synthetic compounds (e.g., CFC), most environmental pollutants exist in nature. We just happen to place them where they don’t belong (e.g., lead in the atmosphere).

The untended meadow of nature’s nanostructures and the
English-style garden of engineered nanomaterials

This work takes you around the universe and back to demonstrate the importance of determining whether naturally-occurring nanomaterials are representative of the novel and well-controlled structures engineered by man.


To access the full article, download a copy for free by clicking the link below:

Nanotechnology: nature’s gift or scientists’ brainchild?
Michael F. Hochella, Jr., Michael G. Spencer and Kimberly L. Jones
Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2015, 2, 114-119
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00145A

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About the webwriter

Marina Vance is a PhD research scientist at Virginia Tech and Associate Director of @VTSuN. She is interested in air quality, nanotechnology and health. You can find more information about her in mevance.com.

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2015 SNO Emerging Investigator

Send your nominations now!

The SNO Emerging Investigator designation gives recognition to emerging scientists and engineers working in the area of sustainable nanotechnology.  In recognition of this designation, a certificate and a US$1500 prize will be presented at the 2015 SNO Conference.

Criteria and eligibility include:

  1. Investigators who are within the first 10 years post Ph.D.
  2. An impactful body of independent work and publications in the area of sustainable nanotechnology: environmental, societal, or economic.
  3. Attendance at the 2015 SNO Conference in Portland, Oregon November 8th – 10th 2015 and a high quality paper submission to Environmental Science: Nano within one year after receiving the award.

The nomination consists of a single (1-page max) nomination letter, a second (1-page max) support letter and a 2-page CV (self-nominations are not accepted). The nomination letter should describe how the nominee’s research impacts the field of sustainable nanotechnology.

The support letter should focus on the nominee’s teaching, service and leadership in the field of sustainable nanotechnology. Both the nomination and support letters can be made by SNO members and Environmental Science: Nano Editorial and Advisory  Board members.  Nominations are not restricted to the US or UK.

Letters and CVs are due to Environmental Science: Nano Editor-in-Chief Vicki H. Grassian (vicki-grassian@uiowa.edu) by September 15, 2015.

The selected Emerging Investigator will be honored at the SNO Awards dinner on Sunday November 8, 2015.

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2nd National Environmental Eco-Toxicology Conference

Held in Xiamen (China), April 2015

The 2nd National Environmental Eco-Toxicology Conference was held in Xiamen, China, 25th-28th of April, 2015.

This exciting conference was jointly organised by the Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xiamen University and the Institute of Urban Environment of CAS.

More than 700 attendees shared new ideas and recent development on the are six topics discussed during this conference:

  • Screening and assessment of high risk chemical contaminants
  • Transfer and distribution of chemical contaminants in the environment and organisms
  • Chemical hazards evaluation
  • Toxicology mechanism of chemical ecology
  • Toxicological mechanism of chemical health effects
  • Chemical risk management


During the conference, the Environmental Science (ES) journals sponsored three poster prizes. Let’s introduce the winners!

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts: ‘Study on the toxicity behavior of organic phosphate ester flame retardant to pattern fish’, by Liwei Sun (Zhejiang Institute of Technology)

Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology: ‘Bioaccumulation behaviour of short chain chlorinated paraffins in Antarctic ecosystem’, by Huijuan Li and Aiqian Zhang (Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences)

Environmental Science: Nano: ‘Proinflammatory effects of silver nanoparticles and silver ions on human skin keratinocytes’, by Yang Di, Wei Hong-ying, Wang Bin, Fan Jing-pu, Qin Yu, Liu Yue, Guo Xin-biao and Deng Fu-rong (Peking Universty)

Congratulations to all the winners!

The judges of the prize thought the quality of the posters was really high and, from the Environmental Science team, we would like to thank all the researchers that attended or presented at the conference.

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Photochemical reactivity of single layer graphene oxide (GO) in water

a blog article by Imali Mudunkotuwa at The University of Iowa

Graphene oxide (GO) is a precursor material in the preparation of graphene. Despite its name, on the surface of this material there are different types of functional groups including epoxy, hydroxyl and carbonyl groups. As a result, GO is hydrophilic and easily dispersed in water. This has led to a variety of investigations relating to GO as a potential pollutant, as well as a possible treatment to cancer.

The disrupted π-bond structure in GO enables the absorption of significant amounts of light from solar radiation. Therefore, environmental processing of GO can be expected to include photochemical processes. One important outcome of such processing is the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS can include singlet oxygen (1O2), superoxide anions (O2.) and hydroxyl radicals (.OH). Generation of ROS has a significant impact on ecological risks associated with GO and is critical in understanding the transformation pathways of carbon in the GO structure.

Therefore, Yingcan Zhao and Chad T. Jafvert at Purdue University (West Lafayette, USA) has investigated the ability of aqueous dispersions of single layered GO to generate ROS upon exposure to light within the solar spectrum (λ=300-410 nm). The generated ROS was detected using specific chemical probes, UV-vis spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy.

The findings of this research highlighted that upon exposure to solar radiation there is electron transfer reactions occurring from GO to dissolved O2, forming O2. and significant quantities of H2O2.

Given the fact that these are reduction reactions, this resulted in an overall oxidation of GO. Some of the generated ROS reacted directly with the GO surface and therefore, the oxidation of GO was found to be non-stoichiometric.

The exposure to light also increased the chromophores content or the absorptivity of existing chromophores, as suggested by the increased darker colour of the GO suspensions. However, Raman spectroscopic analysis also indicated an increase in non-aromatic defects.


To access the full article, download a copy for free* by clicking the link below.

Environmental photochemistry of single layered graphene oxide in water
Yingcan Zhao and   Chad T. Jafvert
Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2015, 2, 136-142
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00209a

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About the webwriter

Imali Mudunkotuwa is a Postdoctoral Scholar and Research Assistant at The University of Iowa. She is interested in nanoscience, physical and surface chemistry. You can find more articles by Imali in her author archive .

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* Access is free until the 21/06/2015 through a registered RSC account

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Halloysite: finally a promising natural nanomaterial?

a blog article by webwriter Imali Mudunkotuwa

Halloysite nanotubes (HNT) are products of nature. In chemical composition they are similar to kaolin and can be considered as rolled kaolin sheets with inner diameter of 10-20 nm, outer diameter of 40-70 nm and a length of 500-1500 nm. The internal side of halloysite is composed of Al2O3 while the external is mainly SiO2.

These clay tubes are excavated from mines as stone minerals and processed by milling to form fine power of tubes, which is then used to dope a variety of polymers. The polymer doping has been observed to enhance various properties of these polymers including strength, adhesivity and flame retardancy. In addition, the large surface area and oppositely charged inner and out diameter facilitate loading a variety of biomolecules useful in medical applications. Given this wide range of applications there is an inevitable release of these materials back to the environment in this refined forms.

Despite the many reports on in vitro toxicity of HNTs, there is only limited information available with regard to its in vivo toxicity. Therefore, to shed light on this matter., Professor Fakhrullin and colleagues at Kazan Federal University investigated for the first time the in vivo toxicity of HNT using Caenorhabditis elegans nematode as a model organism. The C. elegans are an important tool in molecular biology because its fully sequenced genome is closely homologous to the human genome.

The findings of this research has shown that the primary pathway of the HNT entry into the organism is the intestinal uptake. The toxic effects of HNT uptake was then investigated by comparing the body size, fertility (or the number of eggs laid in other words) and longevity of the nematodes.

These comparisons did not give statistically significant differences between the controls, which suggests that these are potentially environmentally safe materials to work with. This is in fact is in contrast to the toxicities observed with other nanomaterials such as single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTS), graphene oxides, TiO2 nanoparticles and platinum nanoparticles.

Even coating the nematode eggs with the HNT did not result in any significant deviations from the control nematodes. At extremely high doses of HNT did inflict some mechanical stress on the alimentary systems but these levels are highly unlikely to be encountered under environmentally relevant conditions.


To access the full article, download a copy for free* by clicking the link below.

Toxicity of halloysite clay nanotubes in vivo: A Caenorhabditis elegans study
Gölnur I. Fakhrullina, Farida S. Akhatova, Yuri M. Lvov and Rawil F. Fakhrullin
Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2015, 2, 54-59
DOI: 10.1039/C4EN00135D

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About the webwriter

Imali Mudunkotuwa is a Postdoctoral Scholar and Research Assistant at The University of Iowa. She is interested in nanoscience, physical and surface chemistry. You can find more articles by Imali in her author archive .

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*Access is free through a registered RSC account.

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