Abstract
Aim: The article discusses health and environmental issues accompanying the development of nanotechnologies. The growing production and use of nanomaterials inevitably leads to their accumulation in the environment, which in the future may have harmful effects on the human health and the ecosystem. The negative influence of the presence of nanoparticles on environmental quality and human health has not been fully identified and investigated yet. Particles with 30 nm in diameter can freely penetrate into living organisms and therefore result in serious side effects, which at the current state of the art are difficult to be defined. Solutions allowing for the industrial application of nanoparticles are still pretty new, which means that the results of studies on their influence on human health and life are not comprehensive. Therefore, it is extremely important to boost the development of tools that enable the detection of nanoparticles and the analysis of processes they evoke. The more widespread presence of nanomaterials in everyday goods calls for the introduction of legal and technological regulations that will protect the consumer against the use of products containing nanomaterials and nanoparticles which cause health hazards. A thorough assessment of risk stemming from the presence of nanoparticles requires the use of effective analytical methods for the determination of their mobility, reactivity, catalycity, eco toxicity and life. In such techniques it is necessary to avoid any interferences that come from nanoparticles naturally present in the environment. The article shows the importance of the monitoring of nanoparticles and describes currently available techniques for the monitoring of nanoparticles in the environment. Their basic requirements as well as advantages and drawbacks are presented. Moreover, the three stages of the nanoparticle monitoring process, that is sampling and sample preparation; separation of nanoparticles; and identification of nanoparticles, are discussed. The authors also show future R&D directions aiming at the improvement of methods for the monitoring of the presence of nanoparticles.
Keywords: nanotechnology, monitoring, nanomaterials, environmental safety