Abstract
This paper describes an asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) technique combined with a flow-through cell having a long optical path length, called a liquid waveguide capillary cell (LWCC). The performance of the AF4-LWCC system for separation and spectrophotometric detection of nanoparticles was examined using size-standard silver nanoparticles. The limit of detection for silver nanoparticles of 30 and 60 nm diameter was highly improved to 2.5 and 7.8 μg L−1 (from 220 and 850 μg L−1, respectively) by applying a 100-cm LWCC, compared to a commercial UV/Vis detector. This improvement of detection sensitivity enabled investigating natural nanoparticles in granitic groundwater extracted from an underground research tunnel in the Republic of Korea. Only a small injection volume (0.5 mL) of groundwater was required to obtain the size distributions of trace amounts of natural colloids without pre-concentration. This study demonstrates that the proposed AF4-LWCC system could be applied as a convenient and efficient tool for detection and size-determination of aquatic nanoparticles at trace-level concentrations.
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