Titanium dioxide in nanoparticulate form is used in large scale in a variety of consumer products including sunscreens, so there is an increasing need for methodology for the reliable characterisation of the particle size and size dependent elemental composition in these complex matrices.
Such measurement capability is essential for underpinning safety assessments, for quality control of existing products and for correlation of nanoparticle characteristics with biological effects observed in toxicity tests.
This paper from Volker Nischwitz and Heidi Goenaga-Infante of LGC, Teddington, UK, describes the first systematic comparison and optimisation of extraction methods for titanium dioxide nanoparticles in sunscreen samples.
Improved sample preparation and quality control for the characterisation of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in sunscreens using flow field flow fractionation on-line with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
Volker Nischwitz and Heidi Goenaga-Infante
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10387G