Fate & Transport Assessment

Since mobility, persistence, and bioavailability are linked to chemical and physical properties, we employ advanced analytical techniques with standardized methods to quantify the state of nanomaterials in natural systems. Fate and transport studies determine how nanomaterials interact with natural matrices in order to predict their behavior in the event of an environmental release.

An animated gif plays showing a blcak background with swirls of green lines embeded with splashes of yellow, orange nad red, around a nucleus of dark purple with blue and red splashes.

Advanced characterization, composition, and mapping of nanoparticles on solid phase samples is conducted using synchrotron-based techniques

A screenshor of the NanoExPERT page. The text reads Interaction Energies between Two Spherical Colloidal Particles in a Symmetric Electrolyte Solution. Below is a box with radio choices for Nanoparticle Material: Silver Iodide (selected), Alumina, Hematite, or Citrate-Capped Silver. Below that is a radio choice for Valence of Counterion: 1 (selected), 2, 3, or 4. Below is a slide for Average Particle Radius (nm) set at 100. Below is a slider for Temperature (degrees C) set at 14.6. Below is a slider for Bulk Electrolytic Concentration (M) set at 0.127. Below is a slider for pH set at 7. The output is in a nested box with the title Flocculation. Potential barrier to irreversible aggregation Vmax = 56.2344 kT, Secondary Minimum = -21.5083 kT, Critical Coagulation Concentration = 0.251198 M, Interparticle Distance at Vmax = 0.641768 nm. Beneath this description is a title Interaction Energies vs. Particle Separation. Below this is a graph with the y-axis labeled Interaction Potential (kT) from -100 to 400 and the x-axis labeled Distance between Particles (nm) from 0 to 30. a red line drops dramatically to 0 then is steady, a yellow line jumps from -100 to about 50 kT then drops to about -20 and is steady with a slight increase, and a purple line slowly increases from -100 to about -20 and follows the trajectory of the yellow line.

ERDC has developed mechanistic models to predict fate of nanoparticles in realistic environmental conditions

Capabilities

  • Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry with Dynamic Reaction Cell interference reduction capability
  • Laser Light Scattering
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
  • Particle Charge (Zeta potential)
  • Quartz Crystal Microbalance

Education

  • Ph.D. Soil Science, 2004; Iowa State University; Ames, IA
  • M.S. Plant & Soil Science, 1998; University of Kentucky; Lexington, KY
  • B.S. Agronomy, 1995; Brigham Young University; Provo, UT

Research Interests

  • Metal/Metalloid speciation in coal-combustion fly ash after prolonged submersion in a natural river system
  • Quantity-Intensity nutrient ion relationships in the soil residence times of munition constituents
  • Nanoparticle storage of cavitation-generated radical species
  • Transport of B. subtilis spores through environmental and anthropogenic porous media

Mark Chappell

Soil Scientist

Publications

Education

  • B.S. Biology, 1987; Texas A&M University; College Station, TX

Research Interests

  • Mobility of nanoparticles in soils and sediments
  • Dissolution and surface reactivity of nanoparticles in natural systems
  • Stability of nanomaterials under environmental conditions
  • Expertise in volatile, semi-volatile, and particulate emissions of organic and inorganic compounds from soils, sediments, and aqueous systems

Cynthia L Price

Research Biologist

Publications