Nanoparticles and Leaching

Dear Colleagues,

Nanoparticles have found their most widespread application in modern science and industry. Nanoparticles greatly expand the possibilities of developing new materials and have opened a new era in chemical sciences, catalysis, energy research, and biological and medicinal applications. In the vast majority of real-world processes, nanoparticles interact with water, organic solvents, or a series of liquid phases and liquid reagents. The interaction of nanoparticles with liquids gives rise to the intriguing phenomenon of leaching.

Leaching is a complex combination of events involving the breaking out of small fragments (single atoms or atomic clusters) from the surface of a nanoparticle and their transfer to the liquid phase. In simple models, leaching can be considered as dissolution; more accurate studies reveal amazingly complex transformations at the nanoparticle–liquid interface. The existence of leaching has now been confirmed for a number of different nanomaterials including metal nanoparticles, hybrid organic/inorganic nanomaterials, and soft and biomolecular nanosystems.

Leaching has a paramount impact on the stability and chemical activity of nanomaterials, as the size and shape of initial nanoparticles may change dramatically. The leaching-mediated effects are of primary importance in nanocatalysis, where the formation of active centers strongly depends on leaching. Improving the activity, stability, and recycling capacity of catalysts is a major challenge that requires a deeper understanding of the mechanistic picture of leaching. At the same time, catalysis is just an example of the crucial influence of leaching on the development of the practical applications of nanoparticles.

The toxicity of nanoparticles represents a highly important issue, which is closely related to environmental and sustainability research. The interaction of nanoparticles with living cells and organisms may involve particular chemical transformations induced by the leaching of components of nanoparticles to aquatic environments and living tissues.

The paramount progress that has been made in our understanding of leaching at the cutting-edge nanoscience level deserves a dedicated highlight in the Special Issue.

As Nanomaterials is an open-access journal, the complete Special Issue will be globally available from the web upon publication. The details of the open-access policy and related information can be found at the journal website.

Kind regards,

Prof. Dr. Valentine P. Ananikov
Guest Editor

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• Leaching from nanoparticles
• Catalysis and leaching
• Evolution of nanoparticles in liquid phase
• Interaction of nanoparticles with solvents and reagents
• Interaction of nanoparticles with living cells
• Toxicity of nanoparticles
• Metal nanoparticles
• Hybrid organic/inorganic nanomaterials
• Soft nanostructured systems
• Degradation of nanoscale catalytic systems
• Destruction of nanoparticles by leaching