>
Spotlight June 2022: From small to clever – What does the future hold for the safety and sustainability of advanced materials?
The smallest particles in materials research, nanoparticles, have occupied us intensively for more than 20 years to elucidate and further investigate their safety for humans and the environment. Now, however, the development is going from “small = nano” to “clever = advanced”, as discussed in a contribution by international scientists. Thereby, it is a great advantage to learn directly from the developments and achievements in the safety research of nanomaterials or to be able to transfer and apply them to advanced materials as well. In addition to the question “What is actually advanced or smart”, the demand for “Safe and sustainable by design (SSbD)” is also raised and the associated challenges are addressed. Important criteria for research here are the possibilities of characterizing the object of investigation, i.e. the concrete description of an advanced material, as well as the quality of the data generated and the data management. Again, the need for close collaboration between scientists from different disciplines with other stakeholders such as industry or regulatory authorities is pointed out. The authors make the important observation that nanosafety research to date has provided and will further provide the tools to meet this new challenge as well.
In doing so, they draw attention to three important prerequisites:
- The extension from “nano” to “advanced materials” should be based on technical criteria and include modelling as well as grouping approaches.
- Furthermore, sustainability should be integrated into the new material designs.
- And finally, these two principles should be firmly anchored in research, innovation and regulation to ensure a smooth transition to the implementation of the new and innovative materials.
Original publication:
Valsami-Jones, E et al. (2022). From small to clever: What does the future hold for the safety and sustainability of advanced materials? Nano Today, 42
Weitere Spotlights
Spotlight March 2023: How can photovoltaics be made safe and sustainable?
Conventional photovoltaic systems often have only low efficiency, i.e. only a fraction of the solar energy is converted into electrical energy and made usable. For this reason, research is being conducted into innovative materials that can significantly increase the energy yield and thus also enable more electrical energy to be generated from renewable sources. However, […]
Read moreSpotlight Juli 2020: “Nanosafety – More than just regulatory processes”
Nanosafety is more than just a compulsory aspect of nanomaterials research and regulation. This research area also has great potential to drive new innovations. It is exactly this perspective that is addressed in the special issue “Rethinking Nanosafety: Harnessing Progress and Driving Innovation” by Chen et al. 2020. The article illustrates that especially in the field of […]
Read moreSpotlight May 2023: Dual energy – edible batteries
An Italian research group reports on edible batteries that supply electric current and can be digested as food, thus providing energy a second time. What sounds funny at first has a serious background, because in medicine, power sources are needed that could be transported through the digestive tract and possibly remain in the body unintentionally, […]
Read moreSpotlight November 2021: Safe Materials from Scratch – Safe-by-Design in Materials Research
Advances in the field of materials science continue to amaze us with nanoscale materials with extraordinary chemical, electrical, optical, and numerous other properties. However, some nanoscale materials have different toxicological profiles compared to the same bulk material. Since safety issues are usually addressed just before launching a product into the market, safety issues may be […]
Read more