Controversial and inconsistent results on the eco-toxicity of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) are commonly found in recorded studies and more experimental works are therefore warranted to elucidate the nanotoxicity and its underlying precise mechanisms. Toxicities of five types of TiO2 NPs with different particle sizes (10∼50 nm) and crystal phases were investigated using Escherichia coli as a test or...

As nanoparticles with different capping structures in solution phases have found widespread applications of wide interest, understanding how the capping structure change influences their presence in phases or solutions is important for gaining full control over both the intended nanoactivity and the unintended nanotoxicity. This report describes a simple and effective phase extraction method fo...

Assessment of C(60) nanotoxicity requires a variety of strategies for dispersing it into biological systems. Our objective was to determine organic solvent/surfactant combinations suitable for this purpose. We used Escherichia coli (ATCC# 25254) to determine the cytotoxicity of C(60) in solvents at concentrations up to 100 ppm. In this preliminary study we hypothesized that C(60) toxicity is di...

The interaction of nanoparticles with hemoglobin (Hb), a major constituent of red blood cells, is important in nanotoxicity research. We report SERS spectra of Hb using gold and silver nanoparticles at very small nanoparticle : Hb molecule ratios, that is, under conditions relevant for SERS-based nanotoxicity experiments with red blood cells at high sensitivity. We show that the structural info...

Development of a rapid, sensitive and cost-effective method for toxicity assessment of commonly used nanoparticles is urgently needed for the sustainable development of nanotechnology. A neural cell with high sensitivity and conductivity has become a potential candidate for a cell chip to investigate toxicity of environmental influences. A neural cell immobilized on a conductive surface has bec...

The length scale for nanomaterial is small enough to be invisible and presume innocence for the initial avoidance of the toxicity issues. Again it was beyond the understanding of the time frame when nanotechnology just blooms that a length scale itself might be an important toxic parameter apart from its materialistic properties. We present this report to address the fundamental issues and ques...