Environmental transformations of Manganese and Manganese oxide nanoparticles

Abstract: Engineered nanoparticles (NPs) are produced in increased quantities. Due to this increase, itis vital to understand the full lifecycle and fate of these NPs to prevent any possible environmental stress. As a result of their size, NPs may interact differently with their environment compared to bulk materials with the same composition, this both gives NPs their usage as well as risks. The risks often include unwanted interaction with biological systems which may lead to generation of toxicity. This study focused on environmental transformations of manganese and manganese oxide (Mn3O4) NPs. Applications these nanoparticles are often in battery technology and catalysis. A solution intended to mimic  the composition of freshwater was used as the environmental media to study these transformations. Exposure of NPs was performed both with and without added natural organic matter (NOM). Several experiments were preformed such as Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) for dissolution of the NPs, Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) for particle size, and Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR- FTIR) for adsorption studies. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was also investigated, and simulations of metal speciation using Visual MINTEQ were also performed. The results from NTA and AAS (for Mn3O4) were not very reliable due to inconsistencies in the results which were probably caused by problems with preparation. However, for both, the results point towards that the dissolution rates of the particles are slightly slowed down when NOM is added. From ATR-FTIR and the simulations it was confirmed that NOM, carbonate, and sulfur will adsorb onto both particles, possibly in multiple layers. As for increased ROS development, no evidence of such an increase was found. However, the method used does not test for increased hydrogen peroxide development so this would in interesting test as well. Other studies which also would contribute to a more nuanced picture of this system is studies regarding zeta potential and studies which furtherinvestigates the type of adsorption mechanism which occurs at the particles surface.