Particle Number Size Distribution

Summary

This chapter provides an overview of the state of the art of currently available techniques capable of performing number‐based measurements on nanomaterial suspensions. Single‐particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP‐MS) is a recently emerged method, which leverages on traditional ICP‐MS measurement principle. One of the key advantages of the technique is in its ability to determine quantitatively the chemical composition of the material, which no other counting technique listed in this chapter, can do. This, in conjunction with a potential for multi‐isotope and multielement analysis, makes spICP‐MS attractive for applications concerning more complex nanomaterial, e.g., capped or core‐shell nanomaterials. The chpater provides a case study to establish whether silicon dioxide food additive found in commercially available coffee creamer should be classified as nanomaterial. The case study demonstrates the potential use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM)/energy‐dispersive X‐ray (EDX) to analyze fumed silica additive in a coffee creamer sample.