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Salisbury, UK, 10th July, 2013: NanoSight reports on how Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis, NTA, is being used in the Faculty of Chemistry of the Jagiellonian University for the characterization of catalytic materials used in environmental applications such as N2O decomposition and soot oxidation.
Dr Pawel Stelmachowski is an assistant professor in the Materials and Surface Chemistry Group at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. “UJ,” as it is known, is Poland’s oldest university having been founded in the mid-fourteenth century. The Group’s research goals are the design, development and optimisation of catalytic materials. These are used mainly for environmental applications such as N2O decomposition and soot oxidation. The phase cooperation of crystallites of different sizes and deposition of active phase on monolithic supports requires sizing and characterization measurements and this is why NTA was chosen.
Describing his practical reasons for choosing NTA, Dr Stelmachowski said: “It’s useful to evaluate the particle sizes prior to the TEM analysis which is much more expensive and time consuming and which requires good quality samples. We want to know the size and dispersion of the active phase particles prior to deposition on monolithic substrate. We’ll soon be launching a new facility for continuous flow synthesis in supercritical conditions. Here, the synthesis product will be analysed directly from the reactor in suspension. As different experimental conditions will yield products of different sizes, using NTA will be very important to this research.”
Continuing to describe his experiences, Dr Stelmachowski said “Before using NTA, I used dynamic light scattering (DLS) but encountered several problems whereas NTA is fast and easy to operate. The most very important feature for me is that NTA works with powders in suspension so the sedimentation and presence of big particles is not an issue here as it was with DLS. Powders with large dispersion of particle sizes are much more easily characterized. The thing with sedimentation is that it is caused by the presence of very large particles, usually from not very well-ground powder. This means the preparation of the sample is less demanding, much easier with NTA.”
To find out about the company and to learn more about particle characterization using NanoSight’s unique Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis solutions, visit www.nanosight.com and register to receive the next issue of NanoTrail, the company’s electronic newsletter.
About NanoSight:
NanoSight delivers the world’s most versatile and proven multi-parameter nanoparticle analysis in a single instrument.
NanoSight’s “Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis” (NTA) detects and visualizes populations of nanoparticles in liquids down to 10 nm, dependent on material, and measures the size of each particle from direct observations of diffusion. Additionally, NanoSight measures concentration and a fluorescence mode differentiates suitably-labelled particles within complex background suspensions. Zeta potential measurements are similarly particle-specific. It is this particle-by-particle methodology that takes NTA beyond traditional light scattering and other ensemble techniques in providing high-resolution particle size distributions and validates data with information-rich video files of the particles moving under Brownian motion.
This simultaneous multiparameter characterization matches the demands of complex biological systems, hence its wide application in development of drug delivery systems, of viral vaccines, and in nanotoxicology. This real-time data gives insight into the kinetics of protein aggregation and other time-dependent phenomena in a qualitative and quantitative manner. NanoSight has a growing role in biodiagnostics, being proven in detection and speciation of nanovesicles (exosomes) and microvesicles.
NanoSight has installed more than 600 systems worldwide with users including BASF, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Proctor and Gamble, Roche and Unilever together with the most eminent universities and research institutes. NanoSight’s technology is validated by 850+ third party papers citing NanoSight results. NanoSight’s leadership position in nanoparticle characterization is consolidated further with publication of an ASTM International standard, ASTM E2834, which describes the NTA methodology for detection and analysis of nanoparticles. For more information, visit www.nanosight.com.
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