Release of Nanoparticles from Polymer Nanocomposites: Influence of Size and Others

Abstract

The use of polymer nanocomposites as packaging materials has caused increasing concern regarding the potential release of nanoparticles which may impact the environment and human health. Studies have been carried out to investigate the release of nanoparticles from polymer nanocomposites under various conditions. The current findings showed that the release of nanoparticles only occurred at the polymer surface and therefore was considered a surface phenomenon. Although the amount of nanoparticle release was varied by changing some factors or testing conditions, the release behavior of nanoparticles (surface phenomenon) remained unchanged. There should be a factor that dominated the release behavior of nanoparticles, and this factor was assumed to be size. If this assumption is true, the release behavior of nanoparticle may be changed by reducing the particle size comparable to the size of small molecules whose release behavior is described as a migration process. So, it is of great interest to investigate the release behavior of nanoparticles by reducing their size. Quantum dots could be a good candidate due to their extremely small size (below 10 nm) and luminescent properties (for easy tracking). By far, study on the release of nanoparticles with a size below 10 nm is scarce. Investigation in this area will expand the research on nanoparticle release and gain further understanding on the release behavior of nanoparticles.