Migration of polyethylene glycol coated gold nanoparticles in surrogate natural barriers

Introduction: Studies on migration behaviors of colloidal materials through engineered and natural barriers are highly important for the safety assessment of radioactive waste repositories since the fate and transport of radionuclides may be significantly affected by interactions with colloids.Methods: Poly (ethylene glycol) coated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were used as a model colloid and the effects of the properties of AuNPs on their migration behaviors were investigated in batch and column experiments with silica sand.Results: Deposition of AuNPs on silica sand and aggregation of AuNPs were observed more for larger AuNPs despite the unfavorable conditions of both AuNPs and silica sand having overall negative surface charges. Sloping plateaus were observed in the breakthrough curves, suggesting that a limited number of sites arising from charge heterogeneities on silica sand may be responsible for attractive forces between AuNPs and silica sand. However, stronger affinity toward silica sand and with each other was observed for larger AuNPs which have more significant negative surface charges.Conclusions: The results suggest that interactions other than electrostatic and van der Waals (vdW) are controlling the migration behavior of AuNPs, including steric effects arising from the surface coating, thus need to be considered when assessing fate and transport of nanoparticles.