Partitioning of Au nanorods in saline estuarine mesocosms

ENVR 52

John L. Ferry, ferry@mail.chem.sc.edu1, Preston S. Craig, craig@mail.chem.sc.edu1, Rebecca Frey1, Cole R. Hexel, hexel@mail.chem.sc.edu1, Timothy J. Shaw, shaw@mail.chem.sc.edu1, Catherine J. Murphy, murphy@mail.chem.sc.edu1, Sisco Patrick, sisco@mail.chem.sc.edu1, Alan Decho2, G. T. Chandler3, Paul Pennington, paul.pennington@noaa.gov4, and Michael Fulton, Mike.Fulton@noaa.gov5. (1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, 631 Sumter St, Columbia, SC 29208, (2) Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of South Carolina, (3) School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, (4) Hollings Marine Laboratory, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, 219 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC, (5) NOAA National Ocean Service, 219 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC 29412-9110
The partitioning of Au nanorods (60 nm x 15 nm; cetyltrimethylammonium bromide stabilized) in a series of estuarine mesocosms (366 L volume) is presented. Au nanorod suspensions were added to three identical mesocosms and Au distributions monitored over a twelve-day exposure. Initial gold particle loadings were nominally 3.6x1010 particles/L. Mesocosms included sediment trays (20 L sediment) planted with Spartina alterniflora (seagrass) and stocked with Paleomonetes pugio (grass shrimp), Cyprinodon variegatus (sheepshead minnows), Mercenaria mercenaria (clams), Nannopus palustris (benthic copepods) and Nassarius obsoletus (snails). The mesocosms were charged with unfiltered seawater (Charleston Harbor, SC). Samples were withdrawn periodically and taken up in aqua regia for analysis by ICP-MS techniques. Au particles were removed in a biphasic process, with an extremely rapid initial phase (~ 80% removal in 5 hr) followed by a slow decrease over the following 11 days. Subsequent partitioning across aqueous, sediment, biofilm and tissue phases is presented.
 

Environmental Behavior and Fate of Manufactured Nanomaterials
8:30 AM-12:10 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 235, Oral

Division of Environmental Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008