Robert H. Hurt

Ion Release Kinetics and Particle Persistence in Aqueous Nano-Silver Colloids

Many important aspects of nanosilver behavior are influenced by the ionic activity associated with the particle suspension, including antibacterial potency, eukaryotic toxicity, environmental release, and particle persistence.The present study synthesizes pure, ion-free, citrate-stabilized nanosilver (nAg) colloids as model systems, and measures their time-dependent release of dissolved silver using centrifugal ultrafiltration and atomic absorption spectroscopy. Ion release is shown to be a cooperative oxidation process requiring both dissolved dioxygen and protons. It produces peroxide intermediates, and proceeds to complete reactive dissolution under some conditions. Ion release rates increase with temperature in the range 0-37 °C, and decrease with increasing pH or addition of humic or fulvic acids. Sea salts have only a minor effect on dissolved silver release. Silver nanoparticle surfaces can adsorb Ag(+), so even simple colloids contain three forms of silver: Ag(0) solids, free Ag(+) or its complexes, and surface-adsorbed Ag(+). Both thermodynamic analysis and kinetic measurements indicate that Ag(0) nanoparticles will not be persistent in realistic environmental compartments containing dissolved oxygen. An empirical kinetic law is proposed that reproduces the observed effects of dissolution time, pH, humic/fulvic acid content, and temperature observed here in the low range of nanosilver concentration most relevant for the environment.

Controlled Release of Biologically Active Silver from Nanosilver Surfaces

Major pathways in the antibacterial activity and eukaryotic toxicity of nanosilver involve the silver cation and its soluble complexes, which are well established thiol toxicants. Through these pathways, nanosilver behaves in analogy to a drug delivery system, in which the particle contains a concentrated inventory of an active species, the ion, which is transported to and released near biological target sites. Although the importance of silver ion in the biological response to nanosilver is widely recognized, the drug delivery paradigm has not been well developed for this system, and there is significant potential to improve nanosilver technologies through controlled release formulations. This article applies elements of the drug delivery paradigm to nanosilver dissolution and presents a systematic study of chemical concepts for controlled release. After presenting thermodynamic calculations of silver species partitioning in biological media, the rates of oxidative silver dissolution are measured for nanoparticles and macroscopic foils and used to derive unified area-based release kinetics. A variety of competing chemical approaches are demonstrated for controlling the ion release rate over 4 orders of magnitude. Release can be systematically slowed by thiol and citrate ligand binding, formation of sulfidic coatings, or the scavenging of peroxy-intermediates. Release can be accelerated by preoxidation or particle size reduction, while polymer coatings with complexation sites alter the release profile by storing and releasing inventories of surface-bound silver. Finally, the ability to tune biological activity is demonstrated through a bacterial inhibition zone assay carried out on selected formulations of controlled release nanosilver.

Biological Interactions of Graphene-Family Nanomaterials: An Interdisciplinary Review

Graphene is a single-atom thick, two-dimensional sheet of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms isolated from its three-dimensional parent material, graphite. Related materials include few-layer-graphene (FLG), ultrathin graphite, graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphene nanosheets (GNS). This review proposes a systematic nomenclature for this set of Graphene-Family Nanomaterials (GFNs) and discusses specific materials properties relevant for biomolecular and cellular interactions. We discuss several unique modes of interaction between GFNs and nucleic acids, lipid bilayers, and conjugated small molecule drugs and dyes. Some GFNs are produced as dry powders using thermal exfoliation, and in these cases, inhalation is a likely route of human exposure. Some GFNs have aerodynamic sizes that can lead to inhalation and substantial deposition in the human respiratory tract, which may impair lung defense and clearance leading to the formation of granulomas and lung fibrosis. The limited literature on in vitro toxicity suggests that GFNs can be either benign or toxic to cells, and it is hypothesized that the biological response will vary across the material family depending on layer number, lateral size, stiffness, hydrophobicity, surface functionalization, and dose. Generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in target cells is a potential mechanism for toxicity, although the extremely high hydrophobic surface area of some GFNs may also lead to significant interactions with membrane lipids leading to direct physical toxicity or adsorption of biological molecules leading to indirect toxicity. Limited in vivo studies demonstrate systemic biodistribution and biopersistence of GFNs following intravenous delivery. Similar to other smooth, continuous, biopersistent implants or foreign bodies, GFNs have the potential to induce foreign body tumors. Long-term adverse health impacts must be considered in the design of GFNs for drug delivery, tissue engineering, and fluorescence-based biomolecular sensing. Future research is needed to explore fundamental biological responses to GFNs including systematic assessment of the physical and chemical material properties related to toxicity. Complete materials characterization and mechanistic toxicity studies are essential for safer design and manufacturing of GFNs in order to optimize biological applications with minimal risks for environmental health and safety.

Graphene microsheets enter cells through spontaneous membrane penetration at edge asperities and corner sites

Understanding and controlling the interaction of graphene-based materials with cell membranes is key to the development of graphene-enabled biomedical technologies and to the management of graphene health and safety issues. Very little is known about the fundamental behavior of cell membranes exposed to ultrathin 2D synthetic materials. Here we investigate the interactions of graphene and few-layer graphene (FLG) microsheets with three cell types and with model lipid bilayers by combining coarse-grained molecular dynamics (MD), all-atom MD, analytical modeling, confocal fluorescence imaging, and electron microscopic imaging. The imaging experiments show edge-first uptake and complete internalization for a range of FLG samples of 0.5- to 10-μm lateral dimension. In contrast, the simulations show large energy barriers relative to kBT for membrane penetration by model graphene or FLG microsheets of similar size. More detailed simulations resolve this paradox by showing that entry is initiated at corners or asperities that are abundant along the irregular edges of fabricated graphene materials. Local piercing by these sharp protrusions initiates membrane propagation along the extended graphene edge and thus avoids the high energy barrier calculated in simple idealized MD simulations. We propose that this mechanism allows cellular uptake of even large multilayer sheets of micrometer-scale lateral dimension, which is consistent with our multimodal bioimaging results for primary human keratinocytes, human lung epithelial cells, and murine macrophages.

Cell entry of one-dimensional nanomaterials occurs by tip recognition and rotation

Materials with high aspect ratio, such as carbon nanotubes and asbestos fibres, have been shown to cause length-dependent toxicity in certain cells because these long materials prevent complete ingestion and this frustrates the cell. Biophysical models have been proposed to explain how spheres and elliptical nanostructures enter cells, but one-dimensional nanomaterials have not been examined. Here, we show experimentally and theoretically that cylindrical one-dimensional nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes enter cells through the tip first. For nanotubes with end caps or carbon shells at their tips, uptake involves tip recognition through receptor binding, rotation that is driven by asymmetric elastic strain at the tube-bilayer interface, and near-vertical entry. The precise angle of entry is governed by the relative timescales for tube rotation and receptor diffusion. Nanotubes without caps or shells on their tips show a different mode of membrane interaction, posing an interesting question as to whether modifying the tips of tubes may help avoid frustrated uptake by cells.

A Kinetic Model of Carbon Burnout in Pulverized Coal Combustion

The degree of carbon burnout is an important operating characteristic of full-scale suspension-fired coal combustion systems. Prediction of carbon loss requires special char combustion kinetics valid through the very high conversions targeted in industry (typically >99.5%), and valid for a wide range of particle temperature histories occurring in full-scale furnaces. The present paper presents high-temperature kinetic data for five coal chars in the form of time-resolved burning profiles that include the late stages of combustion. The paper then describes the development and validation of the Carbon Burnout Kinetic Model (CBK), a coal-general kinetics package that is specifically designed to predict the total extent of carbon burnout and ultimate fly ash carbon content for prescribed temperature/oxygen histories typical of pulverized coal combustion systems. The model combines the single-film treatment of char oxidation with quantitative descriptions of thermal annealing, statistical kinetics, statistical densities, and ash inhibition in the late stages of combustion. In agreement with experimental observations, the CBK model predicts (1) low reactivities for unburned carbon residues extracted from commercial ash samples, (2) reactivity loss in the late stages of laboratory combustion, (3) the observed sensitivity of char reactivity to high-temperature heat treatment on second and subsecond time scales, and (4) the global reaction inhibition by mineral matter in the late stages of combustion observed in single-particle imaging studies. The model ascribes these various char deactivation phenomena to the combined effects of thermal annealing, ash inhibition, and the preferential consumption of more reactive particles (statistical kinetics), the relative contributions of which vary greatly with combustion conditions.

Semi-global intrinsic kinetics for char combustion modeling†

This paper addresses the form of simple rate laws used to describe intrinsic char oxidation within practical combustion and gasification codes. The modern literature is surveyed for near-atmospheric kinetic studies that report global reaction order and/or activation energy. The resulting data set together with mechanistic insights drawn from fundamental surface studies are used to assess various semi-global kinetic models. There is strong evidence in the accumulated data for high reaction order (0.6–1) below 900 K, much weaker but significant evidence for low order above 1200 K, and some suggestion of transition toward another high-order regime at temperatures above about 1600 K. Neither global power-law kinetics nor semi-global Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetics can describe this temperature-dependent behavior. A three-step semi-global mechanism is proposed whose simple rate law describes the major trends in reaction order, activation energy, and CO/CO2 ratio from 600 to 2000 K. The three-step model includes reaction between gaseous oxygen and surface complex, C(O), which is key to describing the high reaction orders widely reported in the low temperature Zone I regime.

Chemical Transformations of Nanosilver in Biological Environments

The widespread use of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) in consumer and medical products provides strong motivation for a careful assessment of their environmental and human health risks. Recent studies have shown that Ag-NPs released to the natural environment undergo profound chemical transformations that can affect silver bioavailability, toxicity, and risk. Less is known about Ag-NP chemical transformations in biological systems, though the medical literature clearly reports that chronic silver ingestion produces argyrial deposits consisting of silver-, sulfur-, and selenium-containing particulate phases. Here we show that Ag-NPs undergo a rich set of biochemical transformations, including accelerated oxidative dissolution in gastric acid, thiol binding and exchange, photoreduction of thiol- or protein-bound silver to secondary zerovalent Ag-NPs, and rapid reactions between silver surfaces and reduced selenium species. Selenide is also observed to rapidly exchange with sulfide in preformed Ag(2)S solid phases. The combined results allow us to propose a conceptual model for Ag-NP transformation pathways in the human body. In this model, argyrial silver deposits are not translocated engineered Ag-NPs, but rather secondary particles formed by partial dissolution in the GI tract followed by ion uptake, systemic circulation as organo-Ag complexes, and immobilization as zerovalent Ag-NPs by photoreduction in light-affected skin regions. The secondary Ag-NPs then undergo detoxifying transformations into sulfides and further into selenides or Se/S mixed phases through exchange reactions. The formation of secondary particles in biological environments implies that Ag-NPs are not only a product of industrial nanotechnology but also have long been present in the human body following exposure to more traditional chemical forms of silver.

Adsorption of essential micronutrients by carbon nanotubes and the implications for nanotoxicity testing.

Nanotoxicology and nanomedicine make extensive use of in vitro cellular assays that were developed prior to the nanotechnology era. The introduction of nanomaterials to these standard assays causes problems that are currently limiting progress in the field.[1] Nanoparticles are often difficult to disperse;[2] they can interfere with optical measurements through light absorption, and they can interact with dyes used as molecular probes of cellular integrity.[3] In some cases the resulting artifacts can lead to gross misinterpretation of effects on cell viability and cytotoxicity.[4] Because sp2-hybridized carbon materials are near-universal sorbents for organic compounds in aqueous phases, and in light of a recent report of favorable noncovalent interactions between small-aromatic-molecule therapeutic agents and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs),[5] we hypothesize that SWNTs will adsorb a wide variety of small organic solutes from biological media, not limited to indicator dyes or their water-insoluble reduction products.

Kinetics and Mechanisms of Nanosilver Oxysulfidation

Among the many new engineered nanomaterials, nanosilver is one of the highest priority cases for environmental risk assessment. Recent analysis of field samples from water treatment facilities suggests that silver is converted to silver sulfide, whose very low solubility may limit the bioavailability and adverse impact of silver in the environment. The present study demonstrates that silver nanoparticles react with dissolved sulfide species (H(2)S, HS(-)) under relevant but controlled laboratory conditions to produce silver sulfide nanostructures similar to those observed in the field. The reaction is tracked by time-resolved sulfide depletion measurements to yield quantitative reaction rates and stoichiometries. The reaction requires dissolved oxygen, and it is sensitive to pH and natural organic matter. Focused-ion-beam analysis of surface films reveals an irregular coarse-grained sulfide phase that allows deep (>1 μm) conversion of silver surfaces without passivation. At high sulfide concentrations, nanosilver oxysulfidation occurs by a direct particle-fluid reaction. At low sulfide concentration, quantitative kinetic analysis suggests a mechanistic switch to an oxidative dissolution/precipitation mechanism, in which the biologically active Ag(+) ion is generated as an intermediate. The environmental transformation pathways for nanosilver will vary depending on the media-specific competing rates of oxidative dissolution and direct oxysulfidation.