Nanoparticles monitoring in workplaces devoted to nanotechnologies

The impact of engineered nanoparticles (ENP) on human and environmental health is largely unknown at the moment, although their applications involve a wide range of fields from electronics, medicine, environmental remediation, packaging, etc. and their use are becoming very common. Currently the best way to estimate the human exposure to ENP is by monitoring the workplaces, which are the first environment involved in their involuntary release. This study has been carried out in the research laboratories of the CIVEN Association, devoted to the promotion of research and training activities in different fields of nanotechnology. Its aim is to evaluate the emission of particles in the full range from 5 nm to 20 μm from two different deposition processes of thin film (plasma enhanced chemical and physical vapour deposition, PECVD and PVD respectively) and from the compounding of polymers with nanofillers by means of twin screw extruder. The results show very different scenarios of emissions. In particular a significant increase of particles concentration has been detected at the opening of the PECVD vacuum chamber and during nanocomposite compounding. In the first case it rises to 3 000 particles cm-3, while in the second one the emissions are two orders of magnitude larger, reaching more than 1.5 x 105 particles cm-3.