2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Molecular speciation of silver nanoparticle for elucidating bioavailability to plants and macrofauna

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24658062
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Plant nutrition/Soil science
Research Institution	Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Principal Investigator	HASHIMOTO Yohey 東京農工大学, (連合)農学研究科(研究院), 准教授 (80436899)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	銀 / 土壌汚染 / ナノマテリアル
Research Abstract	Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) have been incorporated into various products such as sock and cloth. AgNP in the products can be washed out via laundry and bathing activities and accumulates eventually in sewage sludge. Environmental behaviors of silver and AgNP remain largely unknown, and investigation of silver compounds in soils is key to elucidating environmental fate and toxicity of silver. Our study found that i) solubility of silver compounds and AgNP are dependent on soil's redox potential, ii) Andic soils can retain silver more than lowland gley soils, and iii) AgNP remains persistent in oxic soil conditions.