TY - GEN A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul T1 - Comparative study of suitable preparation methods to evaluate irregular shaped, polydisperse nanoparticles by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). N2 - Reliable characterization of materials at the nanoscale regarding their physio-chemical properties is a challenging task, which is important when utilizing and designing nanoscale materials. Nanoscale materials pose a potential toxicological hazard to the environment and the human body. For this reason, the European Commission amended the REACH Regulation in 2018 to govern the classification of nanomaterials, relying on number-based distribution of the particle size. Suitable methods exist for the granulometric characterization of monodisperse and ideally shaped nanoparticles. However, the evaluation of commercially available nanoscale powders is problematic. These powders tend to agglomerate, show a wide particle size distribution and are of irregular particle shape. Zinc oxide, aluminum oxide and cerium oxide with particle sizes less than 100 nm were selected for the studies and different preparation methods were used comparatively. First, the nanoparticles were dispersed in different dispersants and prepared on TEM-supported copper grids. Furthermore, individual powders were deposited on carbon-based self-adhesive pads. In addition, the samples were embedded by hot mounting and then ground and polished. The prepared samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (including the transmission mode STEM-in-SEM) and Dynamic Light scattering. The software package ImageJ was used to segment the SEM images and obtain the particle sizes and shapes and finally the number-based particles size distribution with size expressed as various descriptors. T2 - Ceramics 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 19.04.2021 KW - Nanoparticles KW - Preparation KW - Characterization PY - 2021 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/53272 AN - OPUS4-53272 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany