Characterization of Nanomaterials in Complex Environmental and Biological Media

Characterization of Nanomaterials in Complex Environmental and Biological Media covers the novel properties of nanomaterials and their applications to consumer products and industrial processes. The book fills the growing gap in this challenging area, bringing together disparate strands in chemistry, physics, biology, and other relevant disciplines. It provides an overview on nanotechnology, nanomaterials, nano(eco)toxicology, and nanomaterial characterization, focusing on the characterization of a range of nanomaterial physicochemical properties of relevance to environmental and toxicological studies and their available analytical techniques. Readers will find a multidisciplinary approach that provides highly skilled scientists, engineers, and technicians with the tools they need to understand and interpret complicated sets of data obtained through sophisticated analytical techniques.

Mohammed Baalousha received a BSc in Civil Engineering from the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine in 2001. After that, he moved to France where he completed a MSc degree in Applied Mechanics in 2002 and a PhD in Environmental Biogeochemistry in 2006 from the University of Bordeaux, France investigating environmental role of colloids as carriers of trace elements. He subsequently undertook a postdoctoral research role at the University of Birmingham, UK, where he began to examine the environmental fate and behavior of nanomaterials and to develop methodologies for nanomaterial characterization in environmental and biological media. In 2014, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Environmental Nanoscience at the University of South Carolina, USA. His major current research interests are: (i) understanding the role of nanoparticles as carriers of trace contaminants in the natural environment, (ii) understanding the fate, behavior and biological effects of manufactured nanomaterials in the environment, and (iii) development and optimization of methodologies for nanomaterial characterization in complex media. Jamie R. Lead received his PhD in Environmental Chemistry at Lancaster University, UK in 1994, and subsequently undertook postdoctoral work in the UK and Switzerland. He was appointed as Lecturer in Aquatic Chemistry at the University of Birmingham in 2000, becoming Professor of Environmental Nanoscience in 2008 and starting the Facility for Environmental Nanoscience Analysis and Characterization (FENAC) in the same year. Professor Lead retains an adjunct position at the University of Birmingham, UK, after moving to the University of South Carolina, USA, in 2012 to become the Carolina SmartState endowed Professor of Environmental Nanoscience and Risk and founding Director of the Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk (CENR). The CENR aims to investigate both the potential environmental and human health implications of manufactured nanomaterials and natural nanomaterials and the sustainable development of nanomaterials for applications to environmental problems. Further information on the CENR can be found at www.cenr.sc.edu. Professor Lead is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of nanotechnology and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and is editor of the journal Environmental Chemistry. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers and edited 3 books related to natural and manufactured nanomaterials.