CHALLENGES IN CHARACTERIZING
SMALL PARTICLES
Exploring Particles from the Nano- to Microscale
A WORKSHOP SUMMARY
Tina Mosciangioli and Joe Alper, Rapporteurs
Chemical Sciences Roundtable
Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
Division on Earth and Life Studies
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This material is based upon the work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under award number DE-FG02-07ER15872, the National Institutes of Health under award number N01-OD-4-2139, TO# 25, and the National Science Foundation under grant number CHE-0936388.
This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.
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Cover art: Ionic map of atmospheric particles enriched in sulfate (green) and methane (blue) typical for a marine environment. Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
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CHEMICAL SCIENCES ROUNDTABLE
MARK A. BARTEAU, Co-Chair, University of Delaware, Newark
WILLIAM F. CARROLL, JR., Co-Chair, Occidental Chemical Corporation, Dallas, Texas
DONNA G. BLACKMOND, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California
MICHAEL R. BERMAN, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, Virginia
CAROL BEWLEY, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland
PAUL F. BRYAN, Independent Consultant
EMILIO BUNEL, Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois
ALLISON CAMPBELL, WR Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Richland, Washington
MARK CARDILLO, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, New York
A. WELFORD CASTLEMAN, JR., Pennsylvania State University, University Park
RICHARD R. CAVANAGH, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland
KELSEY COOK, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Washington, D.C.
JENNIFER SINCLAIR CURTIS, University of Florida, Gainesville
TERESA FRYBERGER, NASA Earth Sciences Division, Washington, D.C.
MIGUEL GARCIA-GARIBAY, University of California, Los Angeles
JOHN W. KOZARICH, ActivX Biosciences Inc., La Jolla, California
LUIS E. MARTINEZ, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida
JOHN J. MCGRATH, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia
KENNETH G. MOLOY, DuPont Company Experimental Station, Wilmington, Delaware
ROBERT PEOPLES, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C.
MATTHEW PLATZ, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia
MICHAEL E. ROGERS, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
ERIC ROHLFING, U.S. Department of Energy, Germantown, Maryland
JAMES M. SOLYST, ENVIRON International Corporation, Arlington, Virginia
KATHLEEN J. STEBE, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
PATRICIA A. THIEL, Iowa State University, Ames
LEVI THOMPSON,* University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
RICHARD P. VAN DUYNE, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
STAFF
DOROTHY ZOLANDZ, Director, Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
AMANDA CLINE, Administrative Assistant
KATHRYN HUGHES, Program Officer
TINA M. MASCIANGIOLI, Responsible Staff Officer
DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN, Program Officer
SHEENA SIDDIQUI, Senior Program Associate
RACHEL YANCEY, Senior Program Assistant
_________________________
* These members of the Chemical Sciences Roundtable served on the Challenges in Characterizing Small Particles: Exploring Particles from the Nano- to Microscales workshop organizing committee, but they were not involved in the writing of this workshop summary. In addition to the asterisked members above, Barbara Finlayson-Pitts of the University of California, Irvine and Douglas Ray of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory also oversaw the planning of the workshop.
BOARD ON CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
PABLO DEBENEDETTI, Co-Chair, Princeton University, New Jersey
C. DALE POULTER, Co-Chair, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
ZHENAN BAO, Stanford University, California
ROBERT BERGMAN, University of California, Berkeley
HENRY BRYNDZA, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, Delaware
EMILY CARTER, Princeton University, New Jersey
DAVID CHRISTIANSON, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
MARY JANE HAGENSON, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, The Woodlands, Texas
CAROL J. HENRY, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
JILL HRUBY, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico
MICHAEL C. KERBY, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, Houston, Texas
CHARLES E. KOLB, Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts
JOSEF MICHL, University of Colorado, Boulder
SANDER G. MILLS, Merck, Sharp, & Dohme Corporation, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
DAVID MORSE, Corning, Inc., Corning, New York
ROBERT E. ROBERTS, Institute for Defense Analyses, Washington, D.C.
DARLENE J. S. SOLOMON, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, California
JEAN TOM, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hopewell Township, New Jersey
DAVID WALT, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts
STAFF
DOROTHY ZOLANDZ, Director
AMANDA CLINE, Administrative Assistant
DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN, Program Officer
KATHRYN HUGHES, Program Officer
TINA M. MASCIANGIOLI, Senior Program Officer
SHEENA SIDDIQUI, Senior Program Associate
RACHEL YANCEY, Senior Program Assistant
Preface
The Chemical Sciences Roundtable (CSR) was established in 1997 by the National Research Council. It provides a science-oriented apolitical forum for leaders in the chemical sciences to discuss chemistry-related issues affecting government, industry, and universities. Organized by the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology, the CSR aims to strengthen the chemical sciences by fostering communication among the people and organizations—spanning industry, government, universities, and professional associations—involved with the chemical enterprise. One way it does this is by organizing workshops that address issues in chemical science and technology that require national or more widespread attention.
On October 25-26, 2010, the CSR held a 1.5-day workshop that explored new opportunities, challenges, and approaches to characterizing small particles and understanding their impacts. Small particles—about one nanometer to tens of microns—are ubiquitous in the natural and man-made worlds. In many scientific and engineering domains, uncertainty about the properties and chemical composition of small particles limits our ability to understand, predict, and control their applications and impacts.
The workshop included several overview presentations highlighting the critical importance of small particles in environmental science, materials and chemical sciences, biological science, and engineering. In addition, several presentations highlighted new advances in characterizing small particles, including static, dynamic, experimental, computational, and theoretical approaches.
This document summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop. In accordance with the NRC’s policies, the workshop did not attempt to establish any conclusions or recommendations about needs and future directions, focusing instead on issues identified by the speakers and workshop participants. In addition, the organizing committee’s role was limited to planning the workshop. This workshop summary has been prepared by the rapporteurs Joe Alper and Tina Masciangioli as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.
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Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This workshop summary has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published summary as sound as possible and to ensure that the summary meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this workshop summary:
Patricia Thiel, Iowa State University and Ames Laboratory, Iowa
Darlene Solomon, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, California
Renyi Zhang, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
Kai Loon Chen, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they did not see the final draft of the workshop summary before its release. The review of this summary was overseen by Richard Flagan, California Institute of Technology. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this summary was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this summary rests entirely with the authors and the institution.
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Contents
Organization of This Workshop Summary
2 WHAT ARE SMALL PARTICLES AND WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?
Atmospheric Aerosols and Climate
Health Impacts of Ambient Air Particles
Particles in Biological Systems
3 ANALYSIS AND IMAGING OF SMALL PARTICLES
Multidimensional Characterization of Individual Aerosol Particles
Materials Design and Synthesis
Particle Characterization Needs for Nanocomposites
Quantifying the Chemical Composition of Atmospheric Nanoparticles
Particle Design and Synthesis for Catalysts
Decoding the Universe at the Nanoscale
4 ANALYZING NANOPARTICLES IN COMPLEX MIXTURES
Design and Manufacture of Delivery Forms for Small Particles
Surface Chemistry, Transformations, and Global Impacts
5 MODELING AND SIMULATION OF SMALL PARTICLES
From Atomistic Simulations to Health Effects
Acronyms
AMPI | atomistic model for particle interception |
API | active pharmaceutical ingredient |
CAPs | concentrated ambient PM2.5 |
CFC | chlorofluorocarbon |
CSN | Chemical Speciation Network |
CSR | Chemical Sciences Roundtable |
CT | computed tomography |
EDS | energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy |
EELS | electron energy loss spectroscopy |
EPA | Environmental Protection Agency |
IPCC | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
NAAQS | National Ambient Air Quality Standards |
NCAR | National Center for Atmospheric Research |
NIBIB | National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering |
NIGMS | National Institute of General Medical Sciences |
NIH | National Institutes of Health |
NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
NOM | natural organic matter |
NPACT | National Particle Component Toxicity Initiative |
NRC | National Research Council |
NRL | Naval Research Laboratory |
NSF | National Science Foundation |
ORNL | Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
PM | particulate matter |
SAX | small-angle x-ray scattering |
SBIR | Small Business Innovation Research |
SEM | scanning electron microscopy |
SOPS | Engineering Research Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems |
STEM | scanning transmission electron microscopy |
STM | scanning tunneling microscopy |
TD-CIMS | thermal desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometer |
TEM | transmission electron microscopy |