How can you differentiate between natural and engineered nanoparticles in the environment?

This is indeed a big challenge, because size and shape of natural and engineered nanoparticles may be quite similar, and mostly the natural particle outnumber the engineered ones. Hence, sophisticated analytical methods are applied, often by combining several methods, to unequivocally detect the engineered nanomaterials. For example, one uses impurities or different element or isotope ratios.

• Read more about this topic in our cross cutting article – “Detecting nanomaterials in the environment”!