green nanotechnology challenges and opportunities
TRANSCRIPT
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 1/33
Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
June 2
A white paper addressing the critical challenges to advancing greener nanotechnology issby the ACS Green Chemistry Institute® in partnership with the Oregon Nanoscience a
Microtechnologies Instit
www.acs.org/greenchem
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 2/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
IntroductIon
Nanotechnology is an emerging eld. It is an interdisciplinary science whose potential hasbeen widely touted or well over a decade. Despite signicant private and public investment,
progress moving nanomaterials rom the laboratory to industrial production has been slow and
dicult. Two challenges that have slowed development have been the poor understanding
o the new hazards introduced by nanotechnology and lack o appropriate policies to manage
any new risks. Scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, however, continue to move orward,
grappling with challenges that range rom the technical to the regulatory and everywhere
in between. Just as the concepts o nanoscale invention have required new insights rom
scientists, they are also demanding new approaches to managing, producing, unding and
deploying novel technologies into the larger chemical sector. In this case, there is an unusual
opportunity to use science, engineering and policy knowledge to design novel products that are
benign as possible to human and environment health. Recognition o this opportunity has led to
the development o the “green nanoscience” concept 1,2.
EXEcutIVE SuMMArY
Kira JM Matus, James E Hutchison, Robert Peoples, Skip Rung, Robert L Tanguay
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 3/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Green nanotechnology has drawn on the eld o green chemistry, and the ramework o the 12
Principles o Green Chemistry [3] eatures signicantly in work to design new nanotechnologies
or joint economic, social, and health/environmental benet [4]. These eorts have been aided by
awareness throughout the nanotech community that they need to address the potential negative
impacts o nano rom the outset.1 That has not meant, however, that green nanotechnology
has gained widespread and popular acceptance in the scientic and business communities.Awareness is still limited in many sectors, and green nanoscience, along with nanoscience more
broadly, still aces signicant challenges in transitioning rom concept to reality.
thE SuMMIt
As part o its mission to advance the implementation o green chemistry throughout the
chemical enterprise, the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute® (ACS GCI) has
begun a process to engage in yearly “summits” on major issues in the elds o green chemistry
and green engineering. In 2010, the rst pilot summit was held in conjunction with the Saer
Nanomaterials and Nanomanuacturing’s (SNNI) Fith Annual Conerence in Portland, Oregon.2
ACS GCI engaged a small group o experts,3 and its own project team4 to participate in the
conerence sessions, in order to develop answers to key questions on our aspects o greener
nanoscience:
1. What are the most important technical challenges?
2. What are the challenges to understanding nanotoxicology and the associated
inormatics challenges?3. What new policies are necessary to advance greener approaches to nanotechnology?
and
4. What the most pressing industrial deployment challenges?
The team was also tasked with identiying important opportunities or green nanotechnology,
and to ormulate an action plan or ACS GCI’s uture involvement in advancing the eld o
green nanoscience.
1 Examples include: Rice University’s “International Council on Nanotechnology,” http://icon.rice.edu/; The NNI EHS
strategy process http://strategy.nano.gov/blog/generic/page/drat-nni-ehs-strategy and the NIEHS NanoHealth
Enterprise
2 GN10: Reducing principles to practice, 16-18 June 2010, Portland, OR. This conerence was sponsored by Air Force
Research Laboratory under agreement number FA8650-05-1-5041. The views and conclusions contained herein are
those o the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the oicial policies or endorsements,
either expressed or implied, o Air Force Research Laboratory or the U.S. Government.
3 Dr. Jim Hutchison (U. Oregon), Mr. Skip Rung (ONAMI), Dr. Robert Tanguay (OSU)
4 Dr. Robert Peoples (Director, ACS-GCI) and Dr. Kira Matus (LSE)
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 4/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
The summit itsel drew approximately 120 participants rom academia, industry, NGO’s and
government agencies around the United States. There were three main sessions, each o which
began with two keynote speakers. The keynotes were ollowed by our to ve short “rapid re”
talks. Each session ended with a prolonged group panel discussion session. In this manner, the
summit presented a wide range o material to participants, and also encouraged debate and
discussion o some key issues in the eld. The sessions aligned with the broad areas that theproject team and experts had decided were most important or GCI to investigate. The three
sessions were:
1. Meeting Characterization Challenges to Support Greener Nanomaterials and
Nanomanuacturing,
2. Nanotechnology Innovation and Governance: Moving rom “Natural Enemies” to
“Partners or Nature”, and
3. Advancing Greener Nanomanuacturing: Additive processes and Greener
Nanomaterial Production.
At the conclusion o the conerence, SNNI’s expert group and GCI’s project team came
together to identiy the key issues and challenges acing green nanotechnology, along
with strategies and opportunities or uture GCI involvement in order to help move greener
nanotechnologies orward, as part o its broader commitment to supporting the development
and implementation o green chemistry throughout the chemical enterprise.
The Central Challenge: The challenge o simultaneously developing useul products or themarket, advancing the underlying science, and instituting a green nanoscience development and
deployment paradigm.
One o the most undamental challenges particular to green nanotechnology is that the
science, the testing, the regulatory strategy, and even the processes needed or commercial
production are all being developed and deployed at the same time. From this central challenge
fow many early stage challenges that were discussed during the course o the workshop. Six
key barriers were identied (see Box 1).
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 5/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Box 1- Barriers to the Development and Commercialization o Green Nanotechnology
1. There are no clear design guidelines or researchers in initial discovery phases o green
nanoscience;
2. Many green nanomaterials require new commercial production techniques, which
increases the need or basic research, engineering research, and coordination o the twobetween the industrial and research communities;
3. The lack o a “deep bench” o scientists and engineers with experience developing green
nanotechnology;
4. Toxicology and analysis protocols need to be developed and constantly updated to
refect advances in the science;
5. Regulatory uncertainty persists, and green nanotechnologies oten ace higher regulatory
barriers than existing or conventional chemicals;
6. The end-market demand is unclear, especially since there are only a limited number o
commercial grade products that can be compared to conventional materials in terms o
perormance.
thE ActIon AgEndA
Green nanotechnology has been making great orward progress, but the challenges presented
above point to an agenda o actions where involvement by the scientic research community,
industry and government could bring about changes that would be crucial to supporting a
more rapid and eective commercialization o green nanotechnology. Such changes have the
potential to reestablish competitive leadership in the eld, with positive economic implicationsor the manuacturing and associated job creation.
Specically, we are proposing that action be taken according the agenda in Box 2 below. In
this case, the order o the agenda is important. The rst, and most pressing need is or more
and better analysis and characterization tools. These are a key input which are required to
support the rest o the agenda. They are needed or scientists who wish to understand the
mechanisms o the reactions that produce nanomaterials in order to develop better synthesis
methods. And they will allow or improved and more complete toxicological studies o green
nanomaterials, which are required or better and smarter regulation. Similarly, the second
item o the agenda, improved mechanistic understanding, is a key part o the oundation or
developing green nanomaterial design guidelines. Finally, new regulations, as well as outreach
to regulators must be based on the analysis, understanding, and design concepts that are the
result o the rst three items.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 6/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Box 2- The Action Agenda
1. Discover, uncover and provide key analysis and characterization tools
ACTORS ACTIONS
Federal unding
agencies (NIST, NSF,
NIH), university
researchers, nationaland government
laboratories, industrial
nanomaterials
practitioners and
companies that
develop and sell
analysis tools
o Discover and develop new analytical methods that
enable more comprehensive and reliable nanomaterial
characterization
o Increase eciency and reproducibility o analytical methods.Accelerate throughput by streamlining sample preparation,
data collection and analysis. Reduce costs or analysis.
o Develop approaches or real-time monitoring o
nanomaterials to support mechanistic investigations and
process analytical needs.
o Extend the use o existing methods and develop
new methods and tools to detect, monitor and track
nanomaterials in complex media (eg environmental and
biological systems)
2. Develop, characterize and test precision-engineered nanoparticles or biological and
toxicological studies needed to guide greener design
NIST and universities,
but access to materials
and knowledge in rms
also required
o Develop reerence libraries o precision engineered
nanomaterials that represent materials or basic mechanistic
investigations and that are projected or commercial use
Academic institutions in
partnerships with small
start-ups that could
provide the materials as
a service to users.
o Provide the above reerence materials to groups that need
them or testing. Support the use o those materials with
analytical data or each batch and supporting documentation
describing best practices or storing and handling the
materials
Universities o D evelop protocols and use these to test the biological and
toxicological impacts o materials. Develop hypotheses thathelp guide redesign o materials that are greener.
3. Investigate and understand reaction mechanisms to support more ecient and precise
synthesis and production techniques.
Universities o Develop new synthetic methods and conduct research
on reaction mechanisms or nanoparticle ormation. Use
mechanistic knowledge to produce precision-engineered
materials and enhance reaction eciency
o Study barriers to reliable and scalable production and
develop novel approaches to maintain product integrity as
the reaction scale is increased.
Universities in
partnership with
companies
o Develop design guidelines or commercially producible green
nanomaterials.
o Aggregate and make available data generated rom
mechanistic studies, analytical studies and testing, and other
sources or use by research community.
o Share critical and undamental knowledge on barriers and
engineering hurdles discovered during the scale-up and
commercialization process.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 7/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
4. Develop design guidelines or green nanomaterials
Universities o Produce design guidelines or early stage researchers and
materials developers to support greener nanomaterial
development and production.
5. Denition o green criteria or new nanomaterials or ast-track approval by the US EPA.
US EPA o Implement a ast-track approval route or new nanomaterialinnovations that can:
· demonstrate benets over existing materials on the market
· provide basic testing data to demonstrate a reasonable
expectation that the material in question poses
no additional hazard due to its classication as a
nanomaterial1.
6. Education and outreach to regulators to ensure regulatory structures or green
nanotechnology refect accurate knowledge o their intended uses and potential impacts.
Regulatory Agencies:
Economic, Scienticand Environmental
(Department o
Commerce, EPA, FDA,
DOE, NIH, etc…)
o Agencies need to work together and coordinate so that
each can ulll their mission regarding the development o nanotechnology as an industry.
o Agencies need to reach out to experts in science and
business to better understand what is needed, and what
policies would be eective.
Universities,
Companies, Regulators
o Bring regulators most recent inormation to help determine
rules or the circumstances where nanomaterials may require
specialized regulatory approaches instead o being treated
like any other new chemical substances.
o Provide education on green nano concepts to uture
generations o scientists, business people and policy makers.
The amount o data required should be tiered according to the level o production o the material.
Nanotechnology presents an opportunity to develop a revitalized, sustainable U.S.
chemical and materials manuacturing base. We are at a unique point where we have more
understanding o how to go about this than at any time in the past. This new emerging
science and associated technologies do not have to ollow the typical path o many past
innovations in the chemical industry that, despite providing signicant benets, also turned
out to have unanticipated costs to human and environment health. The development and
commercialization o viable green nanotechnologies is dicult, and the barriers mentioned
will require eort rom the scientic, research and government communities. But as the
presentations at GN10 indicated, there is a pathway orward, and concrete actions that could
construct a solid oundation or a protable and environmentally sustainable uture or
nanotechnology.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 8/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
IntroductIon
Nanotechnology is an emerging eld. It is an interdisciplinary science whose potential hasbeen widely touted or well over a decade. Despite signicant private and public investment,
progress moving nanomaterials rom the laboratory to industrial production has been slow and
dicult. Two challenges that have slowed development have been the poor understanding
o the new hazards introduced by nanotechnology and lack o appropriate policies to manage
any new risks. Scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, however, continue to move orward,
grappling with challenges that range rom the technical to the regulatory and everywhere
in between. Just as the concepts o nanoscale invention have required new insights rom
scientists, they are also demanding new approaches to managing, producing, unding and
deploying novel technologies into the larger chemical sector.
Nanotechnology, as an emerging technology, presents an important opportunity or the
scientic and business community. Nanotech is unlike some other sectors o the chemical
industry, where signicant capital is already invested in the orm o large plants and established
supply chains in which production techniques are technologically and culturally embedded.
In act, the need to develop both new nanoproducts, and their equally novel production
techniques presents an important opportunity or innovators. In this case, there is an unusual
opportunity to use science, engineering and policy knowledge to design novel products thatare benign as possible to human and environment health.
SuMMIt rEport
Kira JM Matus, James E Hutchison, Robert Peoples, Skip Rung, Robert L Tanguay
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 9/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Recognition o this opportunity has led to the development o the “green nanoscience”
Concept [1,2]. Green nanotechnology has drawn on the eld o green chemistry, and the
ramework o the 12 Principles o Green Chemistry [3] eatures signicantly in work to design
new nanotechnologies or joint economic, social, and health/environmental benet [4]. These
eorts have been aided by awareness throughout the nanotech community that they need to
address the potential negative impacts o nano rom the outset.
5
That has not meant, however,that green nanotechnology has gained widespread and popular acceptance in the scientic
and business communities. Awareness is still limited in many sectors, and green nanoscience,
along with nanoscience more broadly, still aces signicant challenges in transitioning rom
concept to reality.
What then, are the main challenges that those practicing greener nanoscience must overcome?
How do these dier, i at all, rom those being addressed in the wider nano community? Or the
chemical industry more generally? And what actions can be taken to drive greener nanoscience
orward? Considering nanoscience is an area o rapid development, bold innovation, and
signicant investment, ensuring that nanotechnologies are designed and deployed to
minimize potential harms is o interest to stakeholders throughout academia, industry,
government and civil society.
5 Examples include: Rice University’s “International Council on Nanotechnology,” icon.rice.edu/; The NNI EHS strategy
process strategy.nano.gov/blog/generic/page/drat-nni-ehs-strategy and the NIEHS NanoHealth Enterprise
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 10/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
thE SuMMIt
As part o its mission to advance the implementation o green chemistry throughout the
chemical enterprise, the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute® (ACS GCI) has
begun a process to engage in yearly “summits” on major issues in the elds o green chemistry
and green engineering. In 2010, the rst pilot summit was held in conjunction with the Saer
Nanomaterials and Nanomanuacturing’s (SNNI) Fith Annual Conerence in Portland, Oregon.6
ACS GCI engaged a small group o experts,7 and its own project team8 to participate in the
conerence sessions, in order to develop answers to key questions on our aspects o greener
nanoscience:
1. What are the most important technical challenges?
2. What are the challenges to understanding nanotoxicology and the associated
inormatics challenges?
3. What new policies are necessary to advance greener approaches to nanotechnology?
And
4. What the most pressing industrial deployment challenges?
The team was also tasked with identiying important opportunities or green nanotechnology,
and to ormulate an action plan or ACS GCI’s uture involvement in the eld o green nanoscience.
The summit itsel drew approximately 120 participants rom academia, industry, NGO’s and
government agencies around the United States. There were three main sessions, each o which
began with two keynote speakers. The keynotes were ollowed by our to ve short “rapid re”talks. Each session ended with a prolonged group panel discussion session. In this manner, the
summit presented a wide range o material to participants, and also encouraged debate and
discussion o some key issues in the eld. The sessions aligned with the broad areas that the
project team and experts had decided were most important or GCI to investigate. The three
sessions were:
1. Meeting Characterization Challenges to Support Greener Nanomaterials and
Nanomanuacturing,
2. Nanotechnology Innovation and Governance: Moving rom “Natural Enemies” to
“Partners or Nature”, and
3. Advancing Greener Nanomanuacturing: Additive processes and Greener
Nanomaterial Production.
6 GN10: Reducing principles to practice, 16-18 June 2010, Portland, OR
7 Dr. Jim Hutchison (U. Oregon), Mr. Skip Rung (ONAMI), Dr. Robert Tanguay (OSU)
8 Dr. Robert Peoples (Director, ACS-GCI) and Dr. Kira Matus (LSE)
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 11/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
At the conclusion o the conerence, the SNNI expert group and GCI’s project team came
together to identiy the key issues and challenges acing green nanotechnology, along
with strategies and opportunities or uture GCI involvement in order to help move greener
nanotechnologies orward, as part o its broader commitment to supporting the development
and implementation o green chemistry throughout the chemical enterprise. This report will
discuss the challenges or greener nanotechnology that were identied in our key areas:technical, toxicology/analytics, regulations and policy, and industrial implementation. The
report will also outline avenues or GCI involvement in shepherding green nanoscience into the
mainstream paradigms o the scientic and industrial communities.
Box 3- Key Questions about Green Nanotechnology
1. What are the most important technical challenges?
2. What are the challenges to understanding nanotoxicology and the associated inormatics
challenges?
3. What new policies are necessary to advance greener approaches to nanotechnology?
4. What are the most pressing industrial deployment challenges?
currEnt StAtE
Presentations at the summit underscored two important points. The rst is that there are still many
actors that contribute to the diculties in commercializing greener nanotechnology. But the
presentations were also demonstrations o how ar green nanoscience has progressed over the pastdecade. There are solid oundations in place, and an important step in moving orward is recognizing
the current state o the science, both in terms o nanomaterials and toxicology and analysis.
Nanomaterial design, production and analysis
During the rst decade o nanoscience and nanotechnology development, the science was
dominated by the discovery o new materials and properties that uelled continued interest
in the eld. Reported research described new properties and novel devices, but or the time
being, skipped over some o the key issues related to implementation or commercialization
o the technology. New materials were discovered largely by Edisonian (trial and error)
approaches, reproducibility o new procedures was oten a problem, and characterization
was typically unctional rather then structural. Materials were oten prepared by any
means necessary and in quantities just large enough or the studies at hand. What was
missing were the structural characterization and reproducible methods needed to reliably
relate nanomaterial structure to unction. In addition, in the discovery phase, hazards and
ineciencies can be ignored and, or the most part, they were.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 12/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Within the last ve years, greater emphasis has been placed on structural characterization,
synthetic methods development (including mechanistic studies), reliable purication methods
and the development o greener production methods. It has been recognized that an
appropriate level o characterization, whether or toxicology studies or physical investigation,
requires multiple, complementary characterization techniques [3]. A variety o new synthetic
approaches and mechanistic studies have been reported. Novel purication approaches havebeen developed that, in combination with new characterization approaches provide greater
condence in the structures and purities o materials that are being studied[4]. Finally, a
variety o greener production methods have been developed, including micro-scale and/or
continuous fow reaction systems that provide potentially aster and easier paths or scaling
and commercialization o nanomaterial production.
Although signicant progress has been made, the results rom the last decade have also
revealed newchallenges. New characterization strategies are needed that are rapid enough to
keep pace with (or accelerate) materials development eorts. Analytical methods that identiy
and provide structural inormation about nanomaterials embedded within complex matrices
(environmental compartments or biological systems) are needed to derive mechanistic insights
about nanomaterial/biological system interactions. New synthetic techniques and production
methods are needed that allow reproducible production o precision-engineered materials at
any scale. Finally, versatile purication methods are needed that make it possible to produce
materials o dened purity quickly, economically, and rom a range o reaction media.
Toxicology and analysisAs the excitement o nanotechnology began to grow, the initial approach to address the
potential toxicity o engineered nanomaterials was to assume that these novel materials
will behave like their bulk counterparts. A strong dismissive tone regarding potential hazard
reigned supreme. It was apparent that material scientists were guiding saety assessment in the
early stages o this eld. Inevitably, biologist and toxicologist became involved and took a new
leadership role in the saety evaluations o nanomaterials. Unortunately, out o the gate there
were missteps. Although the toxicology discipline utilizes rigorous well developed methods,
the unique properties o nanomaterials were not immediately recognized by this eld.
Early there was insucient appreciation or the essential need or material characterization
and purity. There were great challenges in dening dosemetrics or nanomaterials. Many
o the initial toxicological studies utilized commercially available materials with little or no
characterization. Toxicological responses varied by vendor and by batch, and it became clear
that at least some o the reported toxicity was actually due to contaminants rather than the
nanomaterials themselves [7]. As the unding base or nanotoxicology increased, it became
clear that new methodological characterization methods were needed. It also became
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 13/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
evident that in order to move this eld orward material scientists and toxicologist needed
to work together to utilize solid science based approaches to guide saer nanotechnology
development.
The eld now agrees that basic nanomaterial characterization must be in place in order to
produce interpretable biological response data. Given the many variables in characterization o nanomaterials, including purity and stability as well as their behaviours in biological systems,
we currently do not ully understand the nanomaterial characteristics that are important
in driving biological activity. Predictive toxicity models that incorporate nanomaterial
properties are the current ocus. The challenge that we continue to ace is the path to
ollow or nanomaterial hazard identication. The National Academy o Sciences report or
T oxicity Testing in the 21st Century is highly relevant to greener nanoscience [8]. The Academy
recommends that we take bold moves to develop testing strategies that move us toward
predictive toxicity models, and away rom standard rodent models. It is apparent that it is
not advisable to evaluate the toxicity o each new nanomaterial in expensive rodent testing
protocols. This “one at a time” approach has ailed or small molecules, and will unquestionably
ail or nanoscience. The nearly unlimited variations in the elemental composition, core size,
surace unctionalization, purity, and synthesis methods indicate that the independent testing
o every variation is not easible. The material needs or this strategy alone is cost prohibitive.
Examples of Success
One example success is the utilization o the embryonic zebrash model as a sensitive,
dynamic biological testing platorm. It is well-established that the undamental developmentalprocesses are highly conserved across species as are the underlying molecular signalling
pathways [9], thereore, the results obtained using zebrash are highly relevant to humans
. The sensitivity o the developmental-stage assay results rom the observation that the ull
repertoire o gene expression is operational. To be clear, in order or a nanomaterial to produce
an adverse response, it absolutely must infuence the activity or expression o critical biological
targets. Developmental lie stages thus oer unprecedented access and opportunities to probe
the ull complement o potential nanomaterial targets. Since perturbation o molecular targets
is the only conceivable way in which a nanomaterial can produce toxicological responses; this
is an ideal platorm to explore the nano/bio interace. There are technical advantages that
make zebrash particularly well-suited or high-throughput screening. Embryos are small, they
develop externally, are optical transparent, and they develop is small volumes which greatly
reduces the material needs or assessments. To date, this assay has evaluated the biological
activity o a ew hundred precisely engineered nanomaterials, and most did not produce
adverse responses.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 14/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Box 4- The Twelve Principles o Green Chemistry [3]
1. Prevention
It is better to prevent waste than to
treat or clean up waste ater it has
been created.
2. Atom Economy
Synthetic methods should
be designed to maximize theincorporation o all materials used in
the process into the nal product.
3. Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses
Wherever practicable, synthetic
methods should be designed to use
and generate substances that possess
little or no toxicity to human health
and the environment.
4. Designing Saer Chemicals
Chemical products should be
designed to eect their desired
unction while minimizing their
toxicity.
5. Saer Solvents and Auxiliaries
The use o auxiliary substances
(e.g., solvents, separation agents,
etc.) should be made unnecessary
wherever possible and innocuous
when used.
6. Design or Energy Eciency
Energy requirements o chemical
processes should be recognized or
their environmental and economicimpacts and should be minimized. I
possible, synthetic methods should be
conducted at ambient temperature
and pressure
7. Use o Renewable Feedstocks
A raw material or eedstock should
be renewable rather than depleting
whenever technically and economically
practicable.
8. Reduce Derivatives
Unnecessary derivatization (useo blocking groups, protection/
deprotection, temporary modication
o physical/chemical processes) should
be minimized or avoided i possible,
because such steps require additional
reagents and can generate waste.
9. Catalysis
Catalytic reagents (as selective as
possible) are superior to stoichiometric
reagents.
10. Design or Degradation
Chemical products should be designed
so that at the end o their unction they
break down into innocuous degradation
products and do not persist in the
environment.
11. Real-time analysis or Pollution
Prevention
Analytical methodologies need to be
urther developed to allow or real-
time, in-process monitoring and control
prior to the ormation o hazardous
substances.
12. Inherently Saer Chemistry or
Accident Prevention
Substances and the orm o a substance
used in a chemical process should be
chosen to minimize the potential or
chemical accidents, including releases,
explosions, and res.
To move the eld orward it is now possible to systematically investigate the relative infuence
o core size, surace chemistry, charge, and sample purity on nanomaterial toxicity using
precisely engineered gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Libraries o precisely engineered materials
are produced where individual parameters are altered. When zebrash embryos are exposed
to each unique AuNPs, the biological eects were dependent on these parameters. Specically
the surace unctionality played the largest role in the driving dierential biological responses.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 15/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
The oundation is in place to move greener nanotechnology orward as numerous
multidisciplinary teams have been built. There is increased evidence that material scientists are
working side-by-side with toxicologists, environmental scientists, and educational experts to
help identiy nanomaterial hazards. There is now a signicant amount o data on nanomaterial-
biological interactions; however, there is no consensus on the most appropriate test methods
or assessing nanomaterial hazard. It is recommended that specic nanomaterial eaturesbe identied that infuence biological interactions and activity. This will ultimately lead to a
ramework o structure-activity relationships. It is becoming clear that a much more systematic
approach is necessary where the individual nanomaterial eatures can be isolated to provide
inormed rules or saer nanoparticle design and synthesis. This approach requires precision
engineering and robust, sensitive, rapid-throughput biological testing platorms.
LESSonS LEArnEd About thE bArrIErS to grEEn chEMIStrY
While steady progress has been made in the development o green nanomaterials and the
accompanying toxicology and analysis, large-scale commercialization has yet to occur. In some
respects, this is not surprising. Almost all new technologies ace signicant barriers in moving
rom the laboratory and into the market. This issue has been documented by scholars and
business people alike or decades [10]. Furthermore, green chemistry, the principles o which
are a core part o green nanotechnology, has also been documented to have its own, distinct
challenges in terms o commercialization [11,12]. However, there are some unique aspects
to green nanotechnology, as it is an emerging science that must deal with the compounded
challenges present in a new area o science, while at the same time breaking new ground onincorporating environmental and health considerations into research and development at the
earliest stages.
Generally speaking, innovations ace barriers that arise in six dierent areas: organizational,
economic and nancial, cultural, regulatory, market, and limitations rom previous decisions
about investment, development and use o existing technologies (also reerred to as “path
dependence” [10,13-23]. Research on green chemistry in particular has ound that these
barriers do appear, but that in dierent countries and subsectors, their role and importance
vary [11]. For example, in China, path dependence is currently not an element o the major
barriers to innovation or green chemistry technologies, largely due to the signicant amount
o capital investment that is currently taking place, which has so ar prevented legacy capital
and technology rom becoming overly limiting. On the other hand, Chinese green chemistry
technologies ace special burdens that stem rom the particulars o the primacy placed on
economic growth over environmental protection, even when the government issues explicitly
pro-green technology policies [11].
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 16/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Box 5- Barriers to Green Chemistry Innovation9
United States China
Economic and Financial Economic and Financial
Regulatory Competing Government Agendas
Technical Training
Organizational Bureaucratic Disincentives
Cultural Funding Structure or Scientic R&D
Denition and Metrics Engineering Capacity
In the United States, or green chemistry, path-dependency and technology lock-in (when
technologies already in use limit the ability to make changes or implement innovations) has
been more o a problem, since the chemical industry has a great deal o legacy inrastructure
that would be highly costly to replace or radically alter. Within the United States context,
many o the challenges refect the strength o the US in discovery, and the declining
ocus on domestic manuacture. As a result, cultural barriers that make it dicult to train
interdisciplinary science, organizations that are unsure o, or unable to assign the value o
green chemistry to their businesses, and the lack o a consensus on how to operationalize the
12 Principles o Green Chemistry into more concrete denitions and metrics are considered to
be major roadblocks [11].
9 Adapted rom Matus 2009
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 17/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Box 6- Dune Sciences: A Case Example o the Challenges Facing Green Nanotechnology
In 2006, Dune Sciences (www.dunesciences.com) was ounded with the aim o bringing
nanotechnology inventions rom the University o Oregon to the market. The technologies
that Dune Sciences licensed dealt largely with chemical linkers that permitted strong,
irreversible binding between a nanoparticle and substrate. Dune Sciences took advantage
o this technology to link nanosilver (nanoAg) to suraces to produce the rst nanosilver-
based antimicrobial suraces that permanently bound the particles to the surace,
eectively preventing loss o the particles into the environment. The bound particles actas reservoirs o silver and slowly release silver ions that are responsible or the antimicrobial
activity. The primary market or these materials is athletic apparel where the antimicrobial
activity prevents the development o “persistent odor” in polyester garments. The
development o persistent odor shortens the liespan o these garments. An anti-odor
solution could extend the use o these garments signicantly and, as a result, reduce
material, energy and water use as well as reducing the use o detergents. Dune estimates
that the use o 2.4 kilograms o silver could double the liespan o a million athletic shirts,
preventing the use o the embedded raw materials, energy, water and transportation costs.
By way o comparison, over 700,000 kg o silver are currently used each year in industry.
In designing this new technology, Dune Sciences applied the principles o green chemistry
to product design and process development. The product prevents particle release rom the
garments and minimizes silver ion release into the environment by using strong linker binding
and the minimum silver loading needed or product perormance, respectively. The source o
nanosilver is a waste stream rom another process and the conversion o that wastestream to
the active ingredient is an all aqueous process that produces almost no waste.
Unortunately, despite the technical success and exciting social potentialo the product,
regulatory barriers prevented the commercialization o the product and uncertainties
surrounding possible regulations made it more dicult to attract investors needed to
urther the development o the technology, and the company had to reduce employment.
Because antimicrobial materials are considered pesticides in the U.S. registration o the
product with EPA was required. Throughout much o 2009 and 2010 was no path orwardto register new products. The argument was made to the EPA OPP and to their Scientic
Advisory Panel that i particles are not released rom the garment that the potential impacts
o these products would be the same as or products that incorporate micro- or macro-scale
silver, articles that are already approved. In addition, it was pointed out that articles that the
EPA had previously registered have nanosilver within them. Neither o these approaches
was successul.
As a consequence o these impasses to registration o the product and securing unding
needed to continue optimizing the technology, Dune Sciences put this product on hold
until a more avourable path to commercialization could be identied.
The problems that Dune Sciences aced in getting a commercially viable, ecacious andgreener product to the market are a good example o some o the key challenges acing
greener nanomaterials, especially in the regulatory arena.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 18/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
How does green nanotechnology t into this broader landscape o innovation? Given its
oundation in the concepts o green chemistry, there should be some areas o overlap.
However, there are specic aspects o green nanotechnology that would also be expected
to present a unique set o challenges. For example, because it is so new, and requires novel
commercialization techniques, technological lock-in and path dependency should not yet be
a problem. On the fip side, uncertainty surrounding the costs o bringing these products tomarket, which would include the need to develop these new commercialization technologies
and analysis protocols, could increase the nancial uncertainty, making them riskier and
less attractive investments. From the discussions at GN10, many o the details o the actual
barriers that have been aced by entrepreneurs became clear, both in their similarities to, and
dierences rom, other green chemistry innovations, and innovations more broadly.
Like all innovations, the process through which green nanotechnology moves rom the
laboratory and into the market involves a series o steps, and the involvement o a number o
institutions (Figure 1). For green nanotechnology, this process usually involves universities,
smaller start-up companies, and nally large companies. In most cases, there are also other
groups that become directly or indirectly involved, including government agencies (FDA, EPA,
etc…), nancial backers, consumers, and even NGO and civil society groups.
Figure 1- The Commercialization Process
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT EXECUTION
GLOBAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
ORGANIZATIONAL ROLES/NEEDS IN GREEN NANO COMMERCIALIZATION:
Universities: scientic discovery, undamental invention, talent development, shared useracilities. NEED: public and philanthropic unding, enabling regulatory/legal environment
Startup companies: pioneering technology and market development o small but disruptive
–rst opportunities. NEED: equity/royalty licenses, large company customers/partners, high-risk
(early stage) capital, minimal regulatory/legal burdens
Large companies: Manuacturing scale-up and global business development. NEED: large and
protable “mainstream” markets, low-risk technology options
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 19/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Figure 1 is a simplied version o a process that involves these many players, and lots o
eedbacks between them. However, it is a good way to understand where in the chain, and
how, dierent barriers emerge between the initial discovery phase, and the eventual entry and
use o a marketable product.
The Central Challenge:Simultaneously developing useul products or the market, developing the underlying science, and
operationalizing a green nanoscience development and deployment paradigm.
One o the most undamental challenges particular to green nanotechnology is that the
science, the testing, the regulatory strategy, and even the processes needed or commercial
production are all being developed and deployed at the same time. From this central
challenge fow many early stage challenges that were discussed during the course o the
workshop, including
Box 7- Barriers to Development and Commercialization o Green Nanotechnology
1. There are no clear design guidelines or researchers in initial discovery phases o
green nanoscience;
2. Many green nanomaterials require new commercial production techniques, which
increases the need or basic research, engineering research, and coordination o
the two between the industrial and research communities;
3. The lack o a “deep bench” o scientists and engineers with experience developing
green nanotechnology;
4. Toxicology and analysis protocols need to be developed and constantly updated
to refect advances in the science;
5. Regulatory uncertainty persists, and green nanotechnologies oten ace higher
regulatory barriers than existing or conventional chemicals;
6. The end-market demand is unclear, especially since there are only a limited
number o commercial grade products that can be compared to conventional
materials in terms o perormance.
These green nanotechnology-specic barriers can be cross correlated with the general ones
rom the innovation literature, in terms o whether they contain some aspects o these. It
would appear that many o the challenges are the result o organizational problems, as well
as some diculties with the cultural aspect o incorporating concepts like interdisciplinary
collaboration and sustainability into stove-piped scientic organizations. More interestingly,
the traditional barriers to innovation do not capture some key elements o the challenges
described by green nanotechnology innovators. This includes many o the technical and
scientic challenges, and the core issue o just how much deeply undamental research is still
required in support o the development and commercialization.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 20/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Table 1-Correlation o Green Nanotechnology Challenges and General Barriers to
Innovation
General Barriers to Innovation
S p e c i f c C h a l l e n g e s o r G r e e n N a n o t e c h n o l o g y
Or g a ni z a t i on a l
E c
on omi c /
F i n a n c i a l
C u
l t ur a l
R e
g ul a t or y
M
a r k e t
P a
t h -
D e p en d en c e
Lack o Design
GuidelinesX
Coordination and
development o
new production
techniques
X X X X X
Experience with
development and
commercialization
X X X
Toxicology and
analysis protocolsX X
Regulatory
uncertaintyX X X
Market uncertainty X X X X X
The presentations and discussions during the GN10 workshop provided both greater depth
o understanding about how and why these exist, and also about the kinds o policies, actions
and approaches that are required to move green nanotechnology orward. These are discussed
in more detail below, and together they orm a research agenda or the uture o green
nanoscience and nanotechnology.
1. Lack o Design Guidelines or Discovery-phase Researchers
The problem: The choices made by academic researchers as they synthesize new green
nanomaterials can have implications throughout the development and commercialization
process- but most researchers are unaware o these impacts. There is a need or guidance
on what kinds o materials, and processes, will be both commercially viable, and will help to
minimize environmental and health impacts.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 21/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Location in the Innovation Chain: This problem is primarily in the research and early
development phase, although its impacts reverberate down the chain.
Actors Involved: Although the users are mainly academic researchers (especially in chemistry
and materials science), they require input rom toxicologists, engineers, and others urther
down the supply chain in order to align their needs and disseminate their knowledge back upthe discovery pipeline.
2. Many green nanomaterials require new commercial production techniques, which
increases the need or basic research, engineering research, and coordination o the
two between the industrial and research communities.
The problem: Unlike other chemistry innovations, which can rely largely on proven industrial
processes, production o green nanomaterials on a commercial scale requires entirely new
methods. This makes it initially more expensive, and more dicult/uncertain to move
new technologies out o the laboratory phase and into production. Solving this problem
requires involvement rom industry, but also by academics in elds like chemical and process
engineering and materials science, in order to develop useul new techniques. Because the
challenges are not apparent until rms begin to produce in larger quantities, this also requires
communication between the industrial and academic communities.
Location in the Innovation Chain: This is a problem that is aced by small companies and start-ups, but is also a challenge or larger rms. Solutions will rely at least partially on work done by
the research community.
Actors Involved: The development o new production processes alls naturally to
small and large manuacturers, who need urther support rom the community o academic
researchers pioneering greener methods.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 22/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
3. There is not yet a “deep bench” o scientists and engineers with experience developing
green nanotechnology;
The problem: Green nanotechnology, and nanotechnology more broadly, is a new eld with
relatively ew commercialized products. Due to the novelty o production methods, there are
very ew chemists and engineers in any given organization who have a depth o experiencedealing with the particular technical challenges o commercializing green nanotechnologies.
In some cases, interns or new employees coming rom academia are the most experienced
individuals on a project, despite having little or no experience in an industrial setting. There are
ew, i any, collaborations between industry and academia that could help train experienced
industrial chemists and engineers in the new technologies and processes or green
nanomaterials.
Location in the Innovation Chain: The impacts o this problem are elt most acutely by small and
large industrial rms.
Actors Involved: This is a problem that is dealt with by small and large industrial rms.
4. Toxicology and analysis protocols need to be developed and constantly updated to
refect advance in the science
The problem: Green nanoscience requires new analytical techniques and toxicological protocolsin order to ully understand the impacts on people and the environment. These elds need
to balance the task o being able to nd ways to eectively analyze new technologies as they
emerge, and also to develop undamental understanding o how dierent properties link to
impacts, in order to provide guidance to the discovery community so that they design the
most benign products possible rom the start. There is also a need to develop in-line process
analytical and control techniques or ull-scale manuacturing operations.
Location in the Innovation Chain: This is a problem that occurs as products come to the market,
and need to be tested or potentially harmul impacts. There are also impacts rom research
that is done earlier in the innovation process, when materials and processes are developed and
analyzed or easibility.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 23/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Actors Involved: This problem involves academic researchers, especially rom the toxicology
community, but also rom nanoscience and engineering. There has also been involvement
rom national research laboratories that work on impact analysis, standards, and testing
protocols, and also rom regulators who set rules or what kinds o data and testing will be
required or products to enter the market.
5. Regulatory uncertainty persists, and green nanotechnologies oten ace higher
regulatory barriers than existing or conventional chemicals.
The problem: Green nanotechnology products ace the same regulatory hurdles as other
new nanomaterials, but have no advantages over similar, but less green materials already on
the market. Depending on their uses, they could all under the purview o several dierent
agencies, including the FDA and the EPA. The regulation o nanotechnology more broadly is
still contested. At this point, it is still not known, with any clarity, whether nano materials are
undamentally more hazardous that conventional chemicals. Given this, there are indications
that the EPA, or at least some materials (such as carbon nanotubes and nanoAg) is adapting a
stricter stance than they generally have towards new chemical substances. And even or those
green nano materials that do not come under specic rules, they still ace the pre-manuacture
notice (PMN) process under TSCA, which is itsel being discussed or major reorm in the US
Congress. Even under the most lenient o the current regulatory rameworks, producers o
green nano materials are at a disadvantage rom chemicals already on the market beore 1976,
which do not have to incur the costs o PMN, or the sometimes more restrictive signicant newuse rules (SNUR’s) and consent decrees that the EPA has used to address concerns about certain
new materials, or novel uses o those currently on the market (SNUR’s are the current method
or regulating carbon nanotubes). All o these actors add up to uncertainties or rms who
ace an unknown set o potential uture rules, higher regulatory hurdles, or, more positively,
potential ast-tracking or lowered costs or greener products i certain elements o the TSCA
reorm bill are passed.
This regulatory uncertainty negatively impacts the availability o investment in green
nanotechnologies, both rom internal sources in corporations, as well as rom early and growth-
state sources such as angel investors and venture capital rms.
Location in the Innovation Chain: This problem is one aced by small and large industrial rms as
they attempt to move green nano technologies into the market place.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 24/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Actors Involved: The main actors involved are small and large manuacturers and the regulatory
community- including both government agencies and lawmakers at the ederal and state levels.
6. End-market demand is unclear, especially since there are only a limited number o
commercial grade products that can be compared to conventional materials in terms o perormance and market success, and the applications are oten just as innovative as
the materials themselves.
The problem: Relatively ew nanomaterials have been produced at a commercial scale. The
discussion is still largely about the promise o green nanotechnology, as opposed to its results.
Given many o the other barriers that have been identied, lack o clear market signals, or
a detailed understanding o the applications or which green nanotechnology would be
particularly advantageous make it dicult or rms to make a strong business case. Smaller
start-up rms need to convince investors that they oer attractive ROI despite long payback
time rames and high initial costs. Large rms ace a similar challenge surmounting internal
investment hurdles, and i anything have much lower risk tolerance. All o this sharply limits
investment possibilities (e.g. compared to ostensibly more capital-ecient opportunities in
social networking and e-tail), which in turn limits the number o products able to make it onto
the market.
Location in the Innovation Chain: This problem is one that occurs at the point where
promising innovations rom the laboratory are picked up by industry- either small rms orlarger ones, that then have to come up with the unding to get through development and
commercialization, and end up with a protable, marketable product.
Actors Involved: The main actors here are the small and large rms, along with their unding
inrastructure- incubators, angel investors, venture capitalists, banks, other investors and
internal investment mechanisms. There is also some involvement rom government programs
that und innovative start-up ventures (i.e. SBIR granting agencies).
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 25/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
Box 8- Barriers to Green Nano Commercialization
BarrierLocation in the Innovation
ChainStakeholders
1. There are no clear design
guidelines or researchers in
initial discovery phases o
green nanoscience;
Discovery phase; link
between academic research
and industry
Universities
2. Green nanomaterials
require new commercial
production techniques,
which increases the need or
basic research, engineering
research, and coordination
o the two between the
industrial and research
communities;
Development and
Production phase; Research
phase; link between
academic research and
industry
Universities; Small and large
industry
3. There is a lack o “deep
bench” o scientists and
engineers with experience
developing green
nanotechnology;
Development and
Production phase
Small and large industry
4. Toxicology and analysis
protocols need to be
developed and constantly
updated to refect advance in
the science;
Research phase; link
between academic research
and industry
Universities, National
Laboratories, Regulatory
Agencies, Small and large
Industry
5. Regulatory uncertainty
persists, and green
nanotechnologies oten ace
higher regulatory barriers
than existing or conventional
chemicals;
Commercialization phase Regulatory Agencies,
Small and large Industry,
Consumers
6. The end-market demand is
unclear, especially since there
are only a limited number o
commercial grade products
that can be compared to
conventional materials in
terms o perormance
Commercialization phase Small and large industry,
consumers, nancing
mechanisms
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 26/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
concLuSIonS: thE ActIon AgEndA
Green nanotechnology has been making great orward progress, but the challenges presented
above point to an agenda o actions where involvement by the scientic research community,
industry and government could bring about changes that would be crucial to supporting a
more rapid and eective commercialization o green nanotechnology.
O the challenges that have been previously described, one important common eature is
that many o them are the result o issues that occur well in advance o commercialization, i.e.
during the design and production process development phases. Improvements in specic
characterization and data analysis tools would have an impact on these issues. Further, there
is an ongoing need or research into the underlying reaction mechanisms at work in greener
nanomaterial synthesis routes. Finally, integrating inormation rom analytical and mechanistic
studies is needed to develop design guidelines or greener nanomaterials.
Specically, we are proposing that action be taken in the ollowing areas:
Box 9- Action Areas
1. Discover, Uncover and Provide key analysis and characterization tools,
2. Investigate and Understand reaction mechanisms or support o better synthesis and
production techniques,
3. Develop design guidelines or commercially producible green nanomaterials,
4. Denition o Green Criteria or new nanomaterials or ast-track approval by the US EPA,
5. Education and outreach to regulators to ensure regulatory structures or green
nanotechnology refect accurate knowledge o their intended uses and potential impacts.
The order o this agenda matters. The rst, and most pressing need is or better analysis and
characterization tools and protocols. These are a critical enabler or the rest o the agenda.
They are required by scientists and engineers who need to understand the mechanisms o
the reactions that produce nanomaterials in order to develop better synthesis methods. And
they will allow or improved and more complete toxicological studies o green nanomaterials,
which are required or better and smarter regulation. Similarly, the second item o the agenda,
improved mechanistic understanding, is oundational or developing green nanomaterial
design guidelines. Finally, new regulations, as well as outreach to regulators must be based on
the analysis, understanding, and design concepts that are the result o the rst three items.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 27/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
For each area o action, specic recommendations are described below, along with the actors
required or each.
Box 10- The Action Agenda
1. Discover, uncover and provide key analysis and characterization tools
ACTORS ACTIONS
Federal unding agencies (NIST, NSF,
NIH), university researchers, national
and government laboratories, industrial
nanomaterials practitioners and companies
that develop and sell analysis tools
o Discover and develop new
analytical methods that enable
more comprehensive and reliable
nanomaterial characterization
o Increase eciency and reproducibility
o analytical methods. Accelerate
throughput by streamlining sample
preparation, data collection and
analysis. Reduce costs or analysis.
o Develop approaches or real-time
monitoring o nanomaterials tosupport mechanistic investigations and
process analytical needs.
o Extend the use o existing methods
and develop new methods and
tools to detect, monitor and track
nanomaterials in complex media (eg
environmental and biological systems)
2. Develop, characterize and test precision-engineered nanoparticles or biological and
toxicological studies needed to guide greener design
NIST and universities, but access to materials
and knowledge in rms also required
o Develop reerence libraries o
precision engineered nanomaterialsthat represent materials or basic
mechanistic investigations and that are
projected or commercial use
Academic institutions in partnerships with
small start-ups that could provide the
materials as a service to users.
o Provide the above reerence materials
to groups that need them or testing.
Support the use o those materials
with analytical data or each batch and
supporting documentation describing
best practices or storing and handling
the materials
Universities o Develop protocols and use these totest the biological and toxicological
impacts o materials. Develop
hypotheses that help guide redesign o
materials that are greener.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 28/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
3. Investigate and understand reaction mechanisms to support more ecient and precise
synthesis and production techniques.
Universities o Develop new synthetic methods
and conduct research on reaction
mechanisms or nanoparticle
ormation. Use mechanistic knowledge
to produce precision-engineeredmaterials and enhance reaction
eciency
o Study barriers to reliable and scalable
production and develop novel
approaches to maintain product
integrity as the reaction scale is
increased.
Universities in partnership with companies o Develop design guidelines or
commercially producible green
nanomaterials.
o Aggregate and make available data
generated rom mechanistic studies,analytical studies and testing, and
other sources or use by research
community.
o Share critical and undamental
knowledge on barriers and engineering
hurdles discovered during the scale-up
and commercialization process.
4. Develop design guidelines or green nanomaterials
Universities o Produce design guidelines or early
stage researchers and materials
developers to support greenernanomaterial development and
production.
5. Denition o green criteria or new nanomaterials or ast-track approval by the US EPA.
US EPA o Implement a ast-track approval route
or new nanomaterial innovations that
can:
· demonstrate benets over existing
materials on the market
· provide basic testing data to
demonstrate a reasonable
expectation that the material
in question poses no additional
hazard due to its classication as a
nanomaterial2.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 29/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
6. Education and outreach to regulators to ensure regulatory structures or green
nanotechnology refect accurate knowledge o their intended uses and potential impacts.
Regulatory Agencies: Economic, Scientic and
Environmental (Department o Commerce,
EPA, FDA, DOE, NIH, etc…)
o Agencies need to work together and
coordinate so that each can ulll their
mission regarding the development o
nanotechnology as an industry.
o Agencies need to reach out to expertsin science and business to better
understand what is needed, and what
policies would be eective.
Universities, Companies, Regulators o Bring regulators most recent
inormation to help determine
rules or the circumstances where
nanomaterials may require specialized
regulatory approaches instead o being
treated like any other new chemical
substances.
o Provide education on green nano
concepts to uture generations o scientists, business people and policy
makers.
Nanotechnology presents an opportunity to develop a new technology, and a new industry
in a sustainable way rom the outset. We are at a unique point where we have more
understanding o how to go about this than at any time in the past. This new emerging
science and associated technologies do not have to ollow the path that has been typical o
many past innovations in the chemical industry that, despite providing signicant benets,
also turned out to have signicant, unanticipated costs to human health and the environment. The development and commercialization o viable green nanotechnologies is dicult, and
the barriers mentioned will require eort rom the scientic, research and government
communities. But as the presentations at GN10 indicated, there is a pathway orward, and
concrete actions that could construct a solid oundation or an economically protable and
environmentally sustainable uture or nanotechnology.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 30/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
grEEnEr nAno 2011 SuppLEMEntAL obSErVAtIonS
In an eort to be comprehensive, this short supplement has been added to ensure the most
up to date inormation has been incorporated into this white paper. It is based on the Greener
Nano 2011 meeting held in Cupertino, CA May 1-3, 2011. Presentations or Greener Nano 2011
may be ound at http://www.greennano.org/GN11_presentations
• Once again in 2011 there was a major theme around the issue o characterization. I anything
the urgency in this area was reinorced as a need or both understanding what is being
tested rom a toxicology perspective, but also or the ability to implement a consistent and
reproducible manuacturing operation.
• It seems micro reactors may oer an especially attractive approach or process control o nano
scale materials. On microreactors or nanoparticle/object production, it might be pointed out
that both batch (like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s WANDA) and continuous fow
techniques have been reported. It may require a combination o learnings rom these two
approaches to satisy industrial cost/eciency needs in at least some cases [24].
• The question o how “purication” o a nano material infuences and in act changes
properties was also raised as a major challenge. In particular methods used to prepare
samples or analytical or toxicological testing have the potential to change states o
aggregation which may result in signicant changes in physico/chemical properties and the
resulting interaction with biological systems [25].
• The issues o surace area, particle size and especially surace charge continue to receive
considerable attention. Sonication is a commonly employed tool or dispersing nano
particles, but evidence shows a signicant change in states o aggregation and properties
may result. This year the element o shape was discussed and how these various
characteristics actor into infammation response and the initiation o apoptosis. The use o
coatings may also have a proound impact on the state o aggregation.
• New insight served as a major development in the act that nano particles have been in our
environment or much longer than we appreciate. The example used was nano silver, and
the revelation that silver nanoparticles are readily generated in a humid environment. This
raises questions in the context o exposure and toxicity since it appears we have all been
exposed through the routine wearing o jewelry, etc. This was discussed in a paper recently
submitted to Science.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 31/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
• The eld o computational toxicology is advancing rapidly and the goal is to move to a
predictive capability or use in new risk assessment approaches. The EPA recently held a
meeting on their Advancing the Next Generation o Risk Assessment (NexGen) program in
Washington, DC to enable movement in this direction [26].
•
On the regulatory ront, there is growing recognition that neither ‘penalty’ nor ‘data call’approaches by regulators are succeeding at the dual goal o advancing innovation and
ensuring saety. While there is no consensus on timely alternatives to resolving uncertainty,
there may be some openness to consider ‘incentive’ or ast-track approaches to getting
greener nanomaterials with probable net environmental benet to market aster. Since
many o these innovations come rom resource-constrained small companies, this remains an
urgent agenda item.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 32/33Green Nanotechnology Challenges And Opportunities
WorKS cItEd
[1] L.C. McKenzie, J.E. Hutchison, Green nanoscience: An integrated approach to greener
products, processes, and applications, Chimica Oggi• Chemistry Today. (2004) 25.
[2] J.A. Dahl, B.L.S. Maddux, J.E. Hutchison, Toward greener nanosynthesis, Chemical Reviews.
107 (2007) 2228-2269.
[3] P.T. Anastas, J.C. Warner, Green chemistry : theory and practice, Oxord University Press,
Oxord England ; New York, 1998.
[4] J.E. Hutchison, Greener nanoscience: a proactive approach to advancing applications and
reducing implications o nanotechnology, ACS Nano. 2 (2008) 395-402.
[5] E.K. Richman, J.E. Hutchison, The Nanomaterial Characterization Bottleneck, ACS Nano. 3
(2009) 2441-2446.
[6] S.F. Sweeney, G.H. Woehrle, J.E. Hutchison, Rapid Purication and Size Separation o Gold
Nanoparticles via Dialtration, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128 (2006) 3190-3197.
[7] M. Kovochich, B. Espinasse, M. Auan, E.M. Hotze, L. Wessel, T. Xia, et al., Comparative
toxicity o C60 aggregates toward mammalian cells: role o tetrahydrouran (THF)
decomposition, Environmental Science & Technology. 43 (2009) 6378-6384.
[8] National Research Council (U.S.)., Toxicity testing in the 21st century : a vision and a
strategy, National Academies Press, Washington DC, 2007.
[9] National Research Council (U.S.), Scientic rontiers in developmental toxicology and risk
assessment, National Academy Press, Washington DC, 2000.
[10] J. Fagerberg, Innovation: A Guide to the Literature, in: J. Fagerberg, D.C. Mowery, R.R.
Nelson (Eds.), The Oxord Handbook o Innovation, Oxord University Press, Oxord, UK,
2006: pp. 1-27.
[11] K. Matus, Green Chemistry: A Study o Innovation or Sustainable Development, Harvard
University, 2009.
[12] M.B. Sattereld, C.E. Kolb, R. Peoples, G.L. Adams, D.S. Schuster, H.C. Ramsey, et al.,
Overcoming Nontechnical Barriers to the Implementation o Sustainable Solutions in
Industry, Environ. Sci. Technol. 43 (2009) 4221-4226.
[13] M.L. Tushman, P. Anderson, Technological Discontinuities and Organizational
Environments, Administrative Science Quarterly. 31 (1986) 439-465.
[14] C. Edquist, Systems o Innovation: Perspectives and Challenges, in: J. Fagerberg, R.R.
Nelson, D.C. Mowery (Eds.), The Oxord Handbook o Innovation, Oxord University Press,
Oxord, UK, 2005: pp. 181-208.
[15] W.E. Bijker, T.P. Hughes, T.J. Pinch, The Social construction o technological systems : new
directions in the sociology and history o technology, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1987.
[16] C.J. Dahlman, B. Ross-Larson, L.E. Westphal, Managing Technological Development:
Lessons rom Newly Industrialized Countries, World Development. 15 (1987) 759-775.
8/4/2019 Green Nanotechnology Challenges and Opportunities
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/green-nanotechnology-challenges-and-opportunities 33/33
[17] J.G. March, H.A. Simon, Organizations, Wiley, New York, 1958.
[18] S. Lall, C. Pietrobelli, Failing to Compete, Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd., UK, 2002.
[19] D. Archibugi, C. Pietrobelli, The globalization o technology and its implications or
developing countries: Windows o opportunity or urther burden?, Technological
Forecasting & Social Change. 70 (2003) 861-883.
[20] V.W. Ruttan, Technology, growth, and development : an induced innovation perspective,Oxord University Press, New York, 2001.
[21] H. Gatignon, M.L. Tushman, W. Smith, P. Anderson, A structural approach to assessing
innovation: Construct development o innovation locus, type, and characteristics,
Management Science. 48 (2002) 1103-1122.
[22] G. Gavetti, D. Levinthal, Looking orward and looking backward: Cognitive and experiential
search, Administrative Science Quarterly. 45 (2000) 113-137.
[23] W. Vincenti, Variation—selection in the innovation o the retractable airplane landing gear:
the Northrop “anomaly,” Research Policy. 23 (1994) 575-582.
[24] A. Risbud. A robot called Wanda. Berkeley Lab News Center. April 26, 2010. Accessed at:
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/eature-stories/2010/04/26/wanda/ on May 25, 2011.
[25] L. Truong, T. Zaikova, E. K. Richman, J. E. Hutchison, and R. L. Tanguay. Media ionic strength
impacts embryonic responses to engineered nanoparticle exposure. Nanotoxicology. In
Press.
[26] US EPA. Advancing the Next Generation (NexGen) o Risk Assessment. Accessed at: http://
www.epa.gov/risk/nexgen/ on May 25, 2011.