Characterisation of nanoparticle size and concentration for toxicological studies.

The assessment of the complete distribution of nanoparticle sizes within a suspension is notoriously difficult to carry out. We demonstrate the Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) technique that sizes nanoparticles in suspension, based on their Brownian motion. This technique has found significant use in the field of nano- and eco-toxicology, in several research groups showing of the technique to assess a range of engineered nanoparticles including gold, SiO2, TiO2 and polystyrene. This capability shares many features in common with conventional flow cytometry but is unique in this deeply sub-micron size range. NTA is a direct and fast technique by which nanoparticles in their natural solvated state in a liquid can be rapidly detected, sized and counted. The technique can be used to complement existing techniques for the sizing of nanoparticles (e.g., DLS, PCS) allowing data obtained from these methods to be validated by direct microscopical observation of the sample.