Shin HJ  Kim YH

Vol. 28,  No. 2, pp. 123-130, Jun.  2022
10.7464/ksct.2022.28.2.123

Nanoparticles SMPS Nanosafety potential release

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Nanoparticles are used in various fields such as chemistry, medicine, the environment, and information and communication. With the increasing use of engineered nanomaterials, exposure to nanoparticles is expected to increase in the workplace and the environmental media. However, while nanotechnology industries are expanding, research on the exposure assessment of nanomaterials to humans and the environment is only at a beginning stage. Especially, if nanoparticles with a size of 100 nm or less that are contained in nano-products are released unintentionally, they may pose potential risks to the human body through breathing or skin exposure. Therefore, in this work, the possibility of potential exposure of nanoparticles moving from the laboratory to the office was confirmed, and nanoparticle safety guidelines are proposed. A nano-collector was used to detect nanoparticles in the atmosphere, and through use of a scanning mobility particle sizer it was found that nanoparticle concentrations in the laboratory and the office tended to be similar. On the assumption that nanoparticles attached to a lab-coat move out of the laboratory, a lab-coat to which nanocarbon black was attached was shaken and the concentration of the remaining particles on the lab-coat determined. The results confirmed that sufficient amounts of nanoparticles attached to the lab-coat could move from the laboratory to the office along the path of a researcher; thus, safety guidelines for the handling of lab-coat nanoparticles are required.