What exactly are nanoparticles? What is meant by “exposure”? When do toxicologists speak of a risk? This and many more questions regarding research on safety aspects of nanomaterials are answered here: www.nanoobjects.info
The antibacterial properties of silver-coated textiles are popular in the fields of sport and medicine. A team of Swiss researchers at Empa has now investigated how different silver coatings behave in the washing machine, and they have discovered something important: textiles with nano-coatings release fewer nanoparticles into the washing water than those with normal coatings.
If it contains 'nano', it doesn't primarily leak 'nano': at least that's true for silver-coated textiles, explains Bernd Nowack of the «Technology and Society» division at Empa. During each wash cycle a certain amount of the silver coating is washed out of the textiles and ends up in the waste water. Empa analysed this water; it turned out that nano-coated textiles release hardly any nano-particles. That's quite the opposite to ordinary coatings, where a lot of different silver particles were found. Moreover, nano-coated silver textiles generally lose less silver during washing. This is because considerably less silver is incorporated into textile fabrics with nano-coating, and so it is released in smaller quantities for the antibacterial effect than is the case with ordinary coatings. A surprising result that has a transformative effect on future analyses and on the treatment of silver textiles. «All silver textiles behave in a similar manner - regardless of whether they are nano-coated or conventionally-coated,» says Nowack. This is why nano-textiles should not be subjected to stricter regulation than textiles with conventional silver-coatings, and this is relevant for current discussions concerning possible special regulations for nano-silver......
The complete press release can be accessed via the following link http://www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/1358/148896/......
Original-Publication:
Mitrano D.M., Rimmele E., Wichser A., Erni R., Height M., Nowack B. (2014). Presence of Nanoparticles in Wash Water from Conventional Silver and Nano-silver Textiles. ACS Nano. dx.doi.org/10.1021/nn502228w
Information on the sponsorship programmes of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research on nanotechnologies for humans and the environment.
A database with important and generally understandable aspects on health and environment of applied nanomaterials as well as facts on the safety of manufactured nanomaterials.
The chapters on release, exposure, uptake and behavior of nanomaterials in the human body and in the environment as well as the risk assessment will give you a first overview.
Wed Jun 24 @ 8:00AM - 05:00PM Nanotech France 2020 |
Mon Nov 16 @ 8:00AM - 05:00PM Nanosafe 2020 |