>
Spotlight July 2022: New definition on nanomaterials published
The European Union has published a new definition for nanomaterials as of June 2022. It is recommended that this be used as a basis for future legislation. The new documents can be found on the EC website.
In the new “nanodefinition”, the essential components such as the origin or the size range of the particles (1-100 nm) remain mostly unchanged, but some aspects are simplified that were only included in the old definition from 2011 through explicit extensions. For example, nanomaterials with dimensions below one nanometre, such as some nanotubes and graphene, which were previously explicitly included, are now included generically. For this purpose, elongated particles with two external dimensions smaller than 1 nm and one dimension larger than 100 nm as well as platelet-like particles with one dimension smaller than 1 nm and two dimensions larger than 100 nm are newly taken into account. Particles with two orthogonal external dimensions larger than 100 µm no longer have to be taken into account.
Likewise, some decision criteria have been clarified and simplified. The previous criterion that a material with a volume specific surface area (VSSA) of 60 m2/cm3 or more was classified as nano has now been dropped. Conversely, in future a material can be designated as non-nano if the VSSA is smaller than 6 m2/cm3. Finally, the threshold for the particle number-based size distribution in the new definition is no longer flexible, but fixed at 50 %.
Weitere Spotlights
Spotlight April 2021: Nanomaterials and Fake News – a commentary based on an example
In February 2021, the article “The invisible killer lurking in our consumer products” appeared, describing nanoparticles as a greater danger than Corona [1]. “The use of nanomaterials” would be “unregulated” and “nanomaterials are so small that they cannot be determined once they are part of a product”. So what is the truth of these statements? […]
Read moreSpotlight February 2023: New sustainable and promising method to give cotton textiles an antiviral and antibacterial finish
Textiles have been the subject of research into functionalization for many years, especially also to repel bacteria and viruses. Since the development of nanotechnological processes, there have been many attempts to incorporate UV protection with nano-titanium dioxide, or to provide textiles with anti-bacterial properties with nanosilver (see cross-sectional text “Nanoparticles in Textiles”). But nanosilver has […]
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 moreSpotlight October 2022: The titanium dioxide debate – why the current ECHA and EFSA hazard classification should be questioned
Due to various reports and scientific studies, titanium dioxide (TiO2)was also banned in Europe this year (2022) for use as a food additive with the indication that it could possibly be carcinogenic to humans. Although no case of tumour induction in humans has been reported since the use of this material in micro but also […]
Read more