Nanomaterials are chemical substances or materials that are manufactured and used at a very small scale (down to 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair). Nanomaterials are developed to exhibit novel characteristics (such as increased strength, chemical reactivity or conductivity) compared to the same material without nanoscale features.

Hundreds of products containing nanomaterials are already in use. Examples are batteries, coatings, anti-bacterial clothing, etc. Nano innovation will be seen in many sectors including public health, employment and occupational safety and health, information society, industry, innovation, environment, energy, transport, security and space.

Nanomaterials have the potential to improve the quality of life. However, the new materials may also pose risks to the environment and raise health and safety concerns. These risks, and to what extent they can be tackled by the existing risk assessment measures in the EU, have been the subject of several opinions of the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR). The overall conclusion so far is that, even though nanomaterials are not per se dangerous, there still is scientific uncertainty about the safety of nanomaterials in many aspects and therefore the safety assessment of the substances must be done on a case-by-case basis.

Properties of Nano materials:

The main parameters of interest with respect to nanoparticle safety are:

Physical properties

• Size, shape, specific surface area, aspect ratio
• Agglomeration/aggregation state
• Size distribution
• Surface morphology/topography
• Structure, including crystallinity and defect structure

• Solubility

   

Chemical properties

• Structural formula/molecular structure
• Composition of nanomaterial (including degree of purity, known impurities or additives)
• Phase identity
• Surface chemistry (composition, charge, tension, reactive sites, physical structure, photo catalytic properties, zeta potential)
• Hydrophilicity / lipophilicity