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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 January 2023: Special issue on Methods and Protocols in Nanotoxicology published
In the first Spotlight of the new year, we present a special issue on methods and protocols in nanotoxicology published in the journal Frontiers in Toxicology. There are still too few harmonized protocols accepted by the scientific community. To improve this situation, project activities are started and special issues of journals like this one are […]
Read moreSpotlight July 2021: The Path to Digital Material Research – It is never too late to start
Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data…. Have you read these words lately? No, these are not just buzzwords. The digitalisation of science is an evolving topic that is gaining importance with each passing day. That is why this month we would like to introduce you to the article “Digital Transformation in Materials Science: A Paradigm […]
Read moreSpotlight January 2022: Methods, models, mechanisms and metadata
For the new year, we are presenting no “classic” paper here, but would like to point out an editorial: Methods, Models, Mechanisms and Metadata: Introduction to the Nanotoxicology Collection at F1000 Research. This editorial introduces the F1000Research Nanotoxicology Collection, where best practices can be collected in the form of original research reports, including no-effect studies, […]
Read moreSpotlight February 2022: Probabilistic risk assessment – the keystone for the future of toxicology
The basics of toxicology are constantly being reconsidered, and the approach to risk assessment is therefore constantly being put to the test, because, as William Osler is cited in this publication, “Medicine (toxicology) is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability“. In this recent paper, the team around Thomas Hartung (Johns-Hopkins University/University of […]
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