%0 Journal Article
%T Decontamination of Surfaces Exposed to Carbon-Based Nanotubes and Nanomaterials
%A Paul Su
%A Babak Haghpanah
%A William W. Doerr
%A Zahra Karimi
%A Syed Hassan
%A Louis Gritzo
%A Ahmed A. Busnaina
%A Ashkan Vaziri
%J Journal of Nanomaterials
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/249603
%X Contamination of surfaces by nanomaterials can happen due to accidental spillage and release or gradual accumulation during processing or handling. Considering the increasingly wide use of nanomaterials in industry and research labs and also taking into account the diversity of physical and chemical properties of different nanomaterials (such as solubility, aggregation/agglomeration, and surface reactivity), there is a pressing need to define reliable nanomaterial-specific decontamination guidelines. In this paper, we propose and investigate a potential method for surface decontamination of carbon-based nanomaterials using solvent cleaning and wipes. The results show that the removal efficiency for single- and multiwalled carbon nanotubes from silicon wafers sprayed with water-surfactant solutions prior to mechanical wiping is greater than 90% and 95%, respectively. The need for further studies to understand the mechanisms of nanomaterial removal from surfaces and development of standard techniques for surface decontamination of nanomaterials is highlighted. 1. Introduction Nanomaterials (NMs) are becoming more involved in an increasingly wide range of applications such as in composites, electronics, and automotive, biomedical, and personal care products due to their novel properties and functions [1每3]. Over the last decade, the global production of NMs has experienced a huge growth. For instance, the global production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was increased from ca. 280 metric tons in 2006 [4] to ca. 1000 metric tons in 2010 [5] and is anticipated to reach thousands of metric tons in the following decade [4, 6, 7]. The increasing production and application of NMs highlight the need for development of preventive measures and regulations to minimize NM exposure in case of accidental release inside the workplace [2, 8每14]. The potential toxicity of nanomaterials has raised concern about health and safety issues related to the production and use of NMs and their environmental impact as well as potential for contaminated property damage or business interruption due to accidental release of nanomaterials [2, 8每21]. Preliminary toxicology studies on nanomaterials, including in vitro cytotoxicity [22每24], small animal toxicology [25], and extrapolation of these data to the human scale, reveal the potentially toxic nature of these materials to human biological systems [26每29]. There are several inherent physiochemical factors including NM size, shape, chemical composition, surface charge, surface modifications, and adsorption capacity that can possibly affect
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/2014/249603/