Speaker
Description
The physical and chemical properties of materials tested on the macro- or nano-scale may
differ dramatically. For example, when measuring the Young's modulus of elasticity, we
assume an “infinite” depth of material, which is not fulfilled especially when the Young’s
modulus is measured at the nano-scale. Another example, the interaction of nanomaterials
with biological environment and their toxicity is dependent on properties of individual
nanoparticles, such as shape, surface passivation, zeta-potential (surface charge in colloidal
state), chemical reactivity etc. and conflicting results about the same nanomaterial toxicity are
published quite often. We decided to study those materials with our home-designed micro-
spectroscopy setup combined with atomic force microscopy device equipped with several
additional modules. In this contribution we would like to present our knowledge about
studying various systems at nanoscale and their comparison to bulk measurements. The new
field of nano-reconnaissance can help us to understand for example the chemical reactivity of
nanoparticles or reasons of secondary inflammatory reactions caused by deformation of
proteins in the protein corona formed on the nanoparticle in a living organism.
