TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Sander, P. A1 - Andresen, Elina A1 - Schedler, U. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Potentiometric and Optical Titration for Cost- Efficient Quantification of Surface Functional Groups on Silica Nanoparticles N2 - Surface chemistry of engineered nanomaterials (NMs) plays a critical role not only in determining their interactions with the environment but also in their stability, safety, and functionality across diverse applications ranging from catalysis to biomedicine. Accurate quantification of surface functional groups (FGs) is therefore essential for quality control, risk assessment, and performance optimization.[1] However, many existing analytical techniques are either cost-intensive, require specialized instrumentation, or lack scalability for routine use. In this study, we present a comparative evaluation of potentiometric and optical titration as two simple, cost-efficient, and automatable methods for quantifying surface functional groups on a variety of surface-modified silica nanoparticles (SiO₂ NPs). These NPs were chosen as they are among the most frequently utilized engineered NMs in the life and material sciences. Potentiometric titration, based on pH monitoring during acid-base neutralization, offers a direct and label-free approach to determine the total amount of FGs. Optical titration provides a complementary method with potential for high-throughput screening. To examine the accuracy and robustness of our stepwise-optimized workflows and the achievable relative standard deviations (RSDs), measurements were performed by multiple operators in two laboratories. Method validation was conducted through cross-comparison with traceable, chemo-selective quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). A comparison with optical assays highlights the importance of measuring both quantities for comprehensive characterization of surface-modified NMs.[2] A combined NM surface analysis using optical assays and pH titration will simplify quality control of NM production processes and stability studies, and can yield large datasets for NM grouping in sustainable and safe(r)-by-design studies. T2 - eMRS Fall Meeting 2025 CY - Warsaw, Poland DA - 15.09.2025 KW - Fluorescence KW - Advanced material KW - Synthesis KW - Characterization KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Silica KW - Surface analysis KW - Validation KW - qNMR KW - Fluram assay KW - Functional group KW - Quantification KW - Potentiometry KW - Amino groups KW - Fluorescamine KW - Calibration KW - Method comparison PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64205 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Abram, Sarah-Luise A1 - Homann, Christian A1 - Scholtz, Lena A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Validated and standardized measurements and quantification of surface functionalities on nanoparticles N2 - Surface-functionalized organic and inorganic engineered nanomaterials (NMs) are widely applied in the life and materials sciences. NM performance depends on key factors such as particle size and shape, crystal phase, morphology, chemical composition, and surface chemistry, i.e., surface coatings, functional groups (FGs), and ligands.1 The latter controls their processability and interaction with the environment and largely their possible toxicity. Thus, methods for FG quantification are important tools for quality control of NM production processes and can foster the sustainable development of functional and safe(r) NMs. This underlines the importance of validated and standardized analytical methods for surface analysis and reference materials.2 This encouraged us to explore simple and versatile tools for quantifying common bioanalytically relevant FGs such as optical assays, electrochemical titration methods, quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR), and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and to perform a first interlaboratory comparison (ILC) on surface FG quantification.3,4 In a follow-up ILC, BAM and NRC explored qNMR sample preparation, measurement, and data evaluation protocols for commercial and custom-made aminated SiO2 NPs with sizes of 20-100 nm, different amounts of surface amino FGs, and different porosity.5,6 First, the number of amino FGs accessible for a dye reporter was determined with a cost-efficient, automated optical fluorescamine assay. Then, qNMR workflows and protocols were stepwise fine-tuned. The qNMR ILC was complemented by joint XPS measurements. BAM also examined the applicability of fast and automatable potentiometric titrations to screen the total amount of (de)protonable FGs on aminated SiO2 NPs. Our results underline the need to evaluate protocols for FG quantification in ILCs and the advantages of multi-method characterization strategies for efficient method cross validation. T2 - Surface and Micro/Nano Analysis Working Group CY - Paris, France DA - 08.04.2025 KW - Quality assurance KW - Reference material KW - Fluorescence KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Surface analysis KW - XPS KW - Traceability KW - Metrology KW - Calibration KW - Reference data KW - Reference product KW - Digital certificate KW - QNMR KW - Potentiometry PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62969 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Amorphous, fluorescent silica particles for bioimaging applications N2 - Nowadays amorphous silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NP) are one of the most abundant engineered nanomaterials, with an annual production of hundreds of thousands of tons, that are used in a broad field of industrial products and processes. Since SiO2 NP are highly stable and easily produced on a large scale at low cost, they are widely employed as fillers for rubbers and composites, absorbents, catalysts, advanced coating additives as well as plant growth agents in agriculture, anti-caking agents in food products, or as carrier material in cosmetic industry. Moreover, they are promising candidates for colloidal scaffolds in biomedical applications like bioimaging, sensing or controlled drug delivery. SiO2 NP modified with luminescent chromophores have several advantages as compared to conventional molecular probes like enhanced brightness, ease of designing ratiometric systems, and increased photostability. Here we present our work on multicolored SiO2 NP for imaging and sensing applications. T2 - FUNGLASS Workshop CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 06.03.2024 KW - Sensors KW - Nano KW - Particles KW - Silica KW - Luminescence KW - Fluorescence KW - Quality assurance KW - Method KW - Synthesis KW - Dye KW - pH KW - Surface analysis PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62167 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - How to Quantify the Total and Accessible Number of Functional Groups and Ligands on Nanomaterials Using a Multimodal Approach – A Bilateral Comparison N2 - Surface-functionalized organic and inorganic engineered nanomaterials (NM) have gained increasing interest in various fields of application such as nanomedicine, bioimaging and sensing, or as additives in food and consumer products. The performance and safe use of these NM in such applications depend not only on their composition, primary particle size, and morphology, but also on surface chemistry, which controls surface charge, colloidal stability, biocompatibility, and toxicity.[1] NM surface chemistry is mainly determined by the total number of surface functional groups (FG) and the number of FG accessible for subsequent functionalization with ligands or biomolecules. Thus, methods for FG quantification are not only important tools for the control of NM production processes, but can also foster the sustainable development of functional and safe(r) NM. In addition, this need underlines the importance of validated and standardized analytical methods that provide accurate information on application-relevant physicochemical properties with known uncertainties, flanked by suitable quality control samples and reference materials. Aiming at the development of simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for the quantification of common bioanalytically relevant FG, we investigated and compared various analytical methods commonly used for FG quantification.[2,3] The potential of multimodal approaches for FG quantification was recently demonstrated in a bilateral comparison of the surface analysis of commercially available aminated silica nanoparticles (SiO2-NP).[3] These results demonstrate not only an influence of the size and synthesis methods on the number of FG but also on NM performance. This concept is currently explored in a second bilateral comparison of quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) measurements and optical assays for differently sized commercial and in-house synthesized SiO2-NP with varying amounts of amine functionalities, utilizing further optimized protocols for sample preparation, qNMR measurements, and data evaluation. This strategy can contribute to establishing multi-method characterization strategies for NMs and can provide a more detailed picture of structure-properties relationships for different types of functional NM. T2 - E-MRS Spring Meeting 2024 & ALTECH 2024 CY - Strasbourg, France DA - 27.05.2024 KW - Quantification KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Quality assurance KW - Interlaboratory comparison KW - Method KW - Uncertainty KW - Reference material KW - Sensors KW - Synthesis KW - Silica KW - Surface analysis PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62161 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Development of amorphous silica particle based reference materials for surface functional group quantification N2 - Functionalized nanomaterials (NM) with their unique size-dependent properties are of increasing relevance for current and future developments in various fields such as medical and pharmaceutical industry, computing, electronics or food and consumer products. The performance and safety of NM are determined by the sum of their intrinsic physicochemical properties.1 Besides other key parameters, the particle surface chemistry, which is largely controlled by the chemical nature and density of functional groups and ligands, must be considered for a better performance, stability, and processibility of NM, as well as their interaction with the environment. Thus, particle standards with well-designed surfaces and methods for functional group quantification can foster the sustainable development of functional and safe(r) NM.2 Here we provide a brief overview of the ongoing research in division Biophotonics to design tailored amorphous silica reference particles with bioanalytically relevant functional groups and ligands, for the development of standardized and validated surface functional group quantification methods. T2 - Workshop NanoRiskSD project CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 09.06.2022 KW - Nanoparticle KW - Surface analysis KW - Silica KW - Fluorescence KW - Assay PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55004 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Rational Design of Analyte-responsive Fluorescent Particle Sensors for Life Sciences Applications N2 - Engineered and tailor-made nanomaterials (NM) are of increasing relevance for current and future developments in the life and material sciences for applications, e.g., as drug carriers, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bioanalytical assays, and reporters for imaging applications. For instance, NM-based reporters and sensors, that are labelled or stained with a multitude of conventional or sensor dyes, have several advantages as compared to molecular probes like enhanced brightness, i.e., amplified signals, ease of designing ratiometric systems by combining analyte-sensitive and inert reference dyes, and increased photostability. Moreover, this can enable the use of hydrophobic dyes in aqueous environments. For rational NM design, choosing and tailoring the intrinsic physicochemical properties, such as particle size, size distribution, morphology, and surface chemistry of the NM application-specific considerations like biocompatibility, ease and low cost of preparation, and colloidal stability and performance in the targeted environment must be considered. In this lecture, different design concepts of inorganic, organic, and hybrid NM and microparticles with hydrophilic surface chemistries and different functionalities are presented that can be used for the targeting of lysosomes; and to monitor functional parameters of endo-lysosomal compartments, like pH or enable oxygen sensing. T2 - Chemical Probes for Lysosomal Biology CY - York, United Kingdom DA - 09.09.2024 KW - Luminescence KW - Quantification KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Quality assurance KW - Fluorescence KW - Method KW - Uncertainty KW - Reference material KW - Sensor KW - Synthesis KW - Dye KW - pH KW - Silica KW - Polystyrene KW - Surface analysis PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62173 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Where Do We Stand – Quantifying Amino Groups on Silica (Nano)Particles N2 - Industry and regulators are increasingly requesting validated and standardized measurement protocols to support the manufacturing, quality control, and safe use of engineered nanomaterials. Addressing a remaining gap in method development and standardization for nanomaterial characterization, we investigated in a bilateral comparison various methods commonly used for surface functional group quantification, like quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and optical assays. These results demonstrate not only an influence of the size and synthesis methods on the number of surface functional groups for differently sized commercial and in-house synthesized silica nanoparticles but also on their functionality. T2 - Kickoff-Meeting SMURFnano CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 09.07.2024 KW - Nano KW - Particles KW - Silica KW - Synthesis KW - Quantification KW - Functional groups KW - Quality assurance KW - Reference material KW - Interlaboratory comparison KW - Method KW - Uncertainty KW - Sensor KW - Surface analysis PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62164 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Wegner, Karl David T1 - Luminescent Nanoparticles – From Photophysics to the Measurement of Photoluminescence Quantum Yields N2 - Inorganic nanocrystals with linear and nonlinear photoluminescence in the ultraviolet, visible, near infrared and short-wave infrared like spectrally shifting lanthanide-based nanoparticles (LnNCs) like NaYF4: Yb, Er and semiconductor quantum dots have meanwhile found applications in the life and material sciences ranging from optical reporters for bioimaging and sensing over security barcodes to solid state lighting and photovoltaics. The identification of optimum particle architectures for photonic applications requires quantitative spectroscopic studies, ideally flanked by single particle studies to assess spectroscopic inhomogeneities on a particle-to-particle level for typical preparation methods. In the following, photoluminescence studies of LnNCs are presented, addressing parameters such as particle size, surface coating, and dopant ion concentration as well as excitation power density mandatory for a profound mechanistic understanding of the nonradiative deactivation pathways in these nanocrystals. In addition, methods for the determination of particle brightness and photoluminescence quantum yield in different spectral windows are presented. T2 - Phoenix Colloquium CY - Hannover, Germany DA - 22.06.2023 KW - Semiconductor quantum dot KW - Upconversation nanocrystal KW - Luminescence KW - Quantitative spectroscopy KW - Photophysics KW - Quality assurance KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Quantum yield KW - Lifetime KW - Standard KW - Reference material KW - Surface analysis KW - Quantification PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57797 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Engineered Nanomaterials- Novel Approaches for Risk Assessment and Safe-by-Design N2 - The overall interest in nanotoxicity, triggered by the increasing use of nanomaterials in the material and life sciences, and the synthesis of an ever increasing number of new functional nanoparticles calls not only for standardized test procedures1,2 and for efficient approaches to screen the potential genotoxicity of these materials, but also for standardized and validated methods for surface analysis. 4,5 The analysis and quantification of surface chemistry is hence in the focus of an increasing number of standardization organizations and interlaboratory comparisons with different analytical methods are being done.5 For the monitoring of nanomaterial synthesis and the fast assessment of the number of functional groups such as carboxyl and amino functionalities, which are very commonly used functionalities in the life sciences, simple and validated methods are needed that can be performed with common laboratory instrumentation. 5,6 Here we provide a brief overview of the ongoing research in division Biophotonics employing quantitative NMR (qNMR), conductometry, and colorimetric and fluorometric optical assays for the determination of the total and the accessible number of carboxyl and amino groups on differently sized polymer and silica nano- and microparticles.5-7 T2 - Workshop NanoRiskSD project CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 09.06.2022 KW - Nanoparticle KW - Surface analysis KW - Standardization KW - Quality assurance KW - Validation KW - qNMR KW - Silica KW - Polymer KW - Fluorescence KW - Assay KW - Conductometry KW - Method comparison KW - Analytical sciences PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-54999 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Functional Luminophores – From Photophysics to Standardized Luminescence Measurements N2 - Inorganic nanocrystals with linear and nonlinear luminescence in the ultraviolet, visible, near infrared and short-wave infrared like semiconductor quantum dots and spectrally shifting lanthanide-based nanophosphors have meanwhile found applications in the life and material sciences ranging from optical reporters for bioimaging and sensing over security barcodes to solid state lighting and photovoltaics. These nanomaterials commonly have increasingly sophisticated core/shell particle architectures with shells of different chemical composition and thickness to minimize radiationless deactivation at the particle surface that is usually the main energy loss mechanism [1]. For lanthanide-based spectral shifters, particularly for very small nanoparticles, also surface coatings are needed which protect near-surface lanthanide ions from luminescence quenching by high energy vibrators like O-H groups and prevent the disintegration of these nanoparticles under high dilution conditions. [2,3,4]. The identification of optimum particle structures requires quantitative spectroscopic studies focusing on the key performance parameter photoluminescence quantum yield [5,6], ideally flanked by single particle studies to assess spectroscopic inhomogeneities on a particle-to-particle level for typical preparation methods [7,8], Moreover, in the case of upconversion nanoparticles with a multi-photonic and hence, excitation power density (P)-dependent luminescence, quantitative luminescence studies over a broad P range are required to identify particle architectures that are best suited for applications in fluorescence assays up to fluorescence microscopy. Here, we present methods to quantify the photoluminescence of these different types of emitters in the vis/NIR/SWIR and as function of P and demonstrate the importance of such measurements for a profound mechanistic understanding of the nonradiative deactivation pathways in semiconductor and upconversion nanocrystals of different size and particle architecture in different environments. T2 - Eingeladener Vortrag Uni Erlangen CY - Erlangen, Germany DA - 18.01.2023 KW - Semiconductor quantum dot KW - Upconversion nanocrystal KW - Luminescence KW - Quantitative spectroscopy KW - Photophysics KW - Quality assurance KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Quantum yield KW - Lifetime KW - Standard KW - Reference material KW - Surface analysis KW - Quantification PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57011 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -