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LII - Nanoparticle Diagnostics and Characterization
The health risk due to ingestion of airborne nanoparticles is seen as one of the most important issues facing Canadians. Development of nanometrology tools to characterize the morphology and concentration of nanoparticles is essential in determining their health, environmental, and economic impacts. Similarly, development of monitoring technologies for air toxics is required to mitigate their impacts, with species such as nitrogen oxide (NOx) in vehicle exhaust and formaldehyde implicated in sick building syndrome.
The study of combustion-generated nanoparticles is important to Canadians. In positive terms, there is the intentional production of nanoparticles, such as carbon nanotubes, carbon black, and refractory and metallic nanoparticles. However, the negative consequences of nanoparticle aerosols are: combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, which produce undesirable particulate matter (PM) as an air pollutant; they affect urban air quality; they adversely affect human health, with both acute and chronic exposure effects; and black carbon plays a significant role in climate change. Similarly, monitoring criteria air contaminants (CACs) is another high priority for Canada as they affect urban air quality and adversely affect human health. This research contributes directly to several of NRC's priorities, including the automobile sector; the horizontal nanotechnology program, and the horizontal information communications technology (ICT) program.
