>
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 December 2020: Rethinking Nanosafety – Part II
In December we would like to draw attention to the special issue: Rethinking Nanosafety – Part II in small. In the July Spotlight we already presented Part I. This special issue “Rethinking Nanosafety – Part II” also features research papers by renowned scientists in the field of nanosafety research. The first part of this special […]
Read moreSpotlight June 2021: Endotoxin – the reason for false-positive toxicity testing for advanced materials?
Advanced materials, but also nanomaterials are closely examined to determine whether they trigger biological effects that could be harmful to humans and the environment before they are used in products. This also includes such materials as titanium dioxide, which has been used in a wide variety of products for more than 50 years. A particularly […]
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 […]
Read moreSpotlight April 2022: A new risk assessment of nanomaterials in 3D printing is needed
The use of nanomaterials in 3D printing has great potential. Due to the properties of nanoscale materials, many requirements can be implemented in 3D printing. However, these unique properties based on the size of the particles also lead to the need for new risk assessments. This is because if the nanoparticles are released in the […]
Read more