Large amounts nanomaterials are fabricated as versatile products in the markets with the fast developing nanotechnology and manufacturing processes. Carboneous nanomaterials, such as fullerene nanoparticles, are widely used in various commercial products and have potential ecotoxicity and risks for human health. The aim of this project is to develop a feasible sample pre-treatment method to separate, fractionate and preliminary characterize nanoparticles in aqueous environment. Three separation approaches, including membrane separation, ultracentrifugation and flow field flow-fractionation, were applied to separate the fullerene nanoparticles, which made by two preparation methods, i.e. extended mixing and sonication. Three extraction methods including traditional liquid-liquid extraction, liquid-liquid micro-extraction and dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction, are tested and determined by a high performance liquid chromatography with a photodiode array detector and a UV/Vis spectrophotometer. Further experiments are carried on to optimize the separation and analysis of nanoparticles in aqueous environment.

Nanoparticles;Separation;Environmental analysis