Determination of Sizes of Silver Nanoparticles in an Aqueous Dispersions by Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

Abstract Specific features of the choice of conditions for determining the sizes of silver nanoparticles in aqueous dispersions by single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SP-ICP-MS) are discussed. It is shown that the limiting factors for determining the sizes of analyte nanoparticles are the degree of sample dilution and the dwell time under optimized operating conditions of the mass spectrometer. The reliable determination of the sizes of silver nanoparticles of 60 and 100 nm at the duration of an analysis of 60 and 180 s, respectively, was achieved at a concentration of 2–4 ng/mL. A possibility of predicting dwell time for nanoparticles of a known size is demonstrated. The determination of several average sizes of nanoparticles is shown on an example of a polydisperse mixture of silver nanoparticles with sizes of 60 and 100 nm at a 10 ms dwell time.