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Table 1 Physico-chemical characteristics of TiO2, ZnO, Ag, BaSO4 and CeO2 ENMs

From: Understanding the impact of more realistic low-dose, prolonged engineered nanomaterial exposure on genotoxicity using 3D models of the human liver

ENM physico-chemical characterisation

TiO2

NM-105

ZnO

NM-111

Ag

Sigma 576832

BaSO4

NM-220

CeO2

NM-212

Core composition and CAS

Titanium Dioxide

CAS: 1317-80-2

Zinc Oxide

CAS: 1314-13-2

Silver

CAS: 7440-22-4

Barium Sulfate CAS: 7727-43-7

Cerium Dioxide CAS: 1306-38-3

Crystalline phases (XRD)a

86.9% Anatase + 13.1% Rutile

Zincite

Metallic

Barite

Cerianite

Surface coating

N/A

UV active silicon coating—triethoxycaprylsilane

PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone) functionalized polymer

N/A

N/A

Impurities (XRF)

None (purity > 99%)

P2O5, SiO2, CaO, CuO, Fe2O3, NiO (All < 1.0%)

Pd, Cl (< 1.0%)

Rh, Fe, Cu, Ni (< 0.1%)

(purity > 99.5%)

Na, Ca, Sr, F, Cl, organic contaminations

(purity > 93.8%)

P2O5, CaO, Cl (< 1.0%)

V2O5, SO3, CoO, MgO, SiO2, CuO, Fe2O3, ZnO (< 0.1%)

Size (MinFeret; TEM)b

25 nm

40.6 nm

30.0 nm

31.5 nm

13.7 nm

3D aspect ratio and circulatory (TEM)b

N/A

A.R: 1.88 ± 0.78

C: 0.80 ± 0.12

A.R: 1.36 ± 0.30

C: 0.88 ± 0.09

A.R: 1.22 ± 0.19

C: 0.98 ± 0.04

A.R: 1.21 ± 0.25

C: 0.97 ± 0.06

Surface area (BET)

51.0 m2/g

12.0 m2/g

6.4 m2/g

33.0 m2/g

27.0 m2/g

Relative density (He pycnometer)

3.95 g/cm3

4.99 g/cm3

8.36 g/cm3

4.13 g/cm3

7.2 g/cm3

Chemical nature of the surface (XPS)c

Ti: 24.5%

O: 65.0%

C: 10.5%

Zn: 34.6%

C: 22.2%

O: 43.1%

Ag: 38.9%

C: 47.6%

O: 13.5%

Ba: 21.5%

S: 12.5%

O: 65.8%

Ce: 25.6%

O: 74.4%

Surface charge (zeta potential at pH 7 in 10 mM KCl water solution)

− 17.0 mv

N/A

− 30.0 mV

− 30.2 mV

+ 35.2 mV

Surface reactivity (FRAS)

18.6 (nmol TEU/m2 ENM)

20.3 (nmol TEU/m2 ENM)

2240.0 (nmol TEU/m2 ENM)

13.9 (nmol TEU/m2 ENM)

16.7 (nmol TEU/m2 ENM)

Surface reactivity (EPR DMPO and CPH spin count)

DMPO: 3.01e+12

CPH: 8.29e+12

DMPO: 1.21e+13

CPH: 1.28e+13

DMPO: 8.00e+11

CPH: 5.58e+13

DMPO: 4.92e+12

CPH: 8.89e+12

DMPO: 5.86e+12

CPH: 1.22e+14

Hydrophobicity (water contact angle)

Hydrophilic (60°)

Hydrophobic (152°)

Hydrophobic (141°)

Hydrophilic (< 10°)

Hydrophilic (60°)

Dissolutiond

Low dissolution (in PBS)

High dissolution (in biological media DMEM + FCS)

Unknown

Low dissolution (in PBS)

Low dissolution (in biological media DMEM + FCS)

Dissolution (24 h) in DMEM + 10% FBS + 1% Pen/Strep

Not detectable

10.11 ± 0.31 µg/mL

0.01 ± 0.01 µg/mL

2.40 ± 0.01 µg/mL

Not detectable

Biological clearance in vivo (t50)d

Physiological clearance (> 40 days)

Rapid clearance

Unknown

Accelerated clearance (< 40 days)

Decelerated clearance (> 40 days)

Previous REACH grouping categoryd

4—active, biopersistent, non-fibrous ENMs

1—soluble, non-persistent ENMs

1—soluble, non-persistent ENMs

3—passive, biopersistent, non-fibrous ENM

4—active, biopersistent, non-fibrous ENMs

  1. Characterisation techniques are abbreviated, in order of appearance, as follows: CAS chemical abstracts service, XRD X-ray diffraction, XRF X-ray fluorescence, TEM transmission electron microscopy, BET Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, XPS X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, FRAS ferric reduction ability of serum, EPR electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, DMPO 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide, CPH 1-hydroxy-3-carboxy-pyrrolidine, REACH registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals
  2. All data indicated with a ais complemented by TEM images, sourced from Keller et al. and Yin et al. bis complemented by XRD graphs cis complemented by XPS graphs located in the Additional file 1: Figure S1, S2 and S3, respectively. All data with a dwas sourced from Arts et al. 2016 [32, 34, 35]