1 NSF Directorate for Engineering | Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) Environmental Engineering and Sustainability Cluster Environmental Implications of Emerging Technologies (1179) Program Director - Cindy Ekstein - nsf.gov  Program Scope  Current Areas of Support  Selected Current Awards

Program Scope 2  Program 1179 provides support to develop and test the environmental effects of nanotechnology

Current Areas of Support 3  Understanding and mitigating how new developments in nanotechnology will interact with the environment  Nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety implications and applications  Predictive methodology for the interaction of nanoparticles with the environment and with the human body, including predictive approaches for toxicity  Fate and transport of natural, engineered, and incidental (by-product) nanoparticles  Risk assessment and management of the effect of nanomaterials in the environment  Sensor and sensor network technologies as they relate to the measurement of environmental implications specific to nanotechnology

Selected Current Awards 4  C60 biotransformation and bioaccumulation: environmental impact implications  Carbon nanotubes in soils: transport, filtration and impact on soil microbial community  Fate of nanoparticles in urban atmosphere  Nitrification inhibition by silver nanoparticles  CAREER: Understanding carbon nanoassembly in biological and environmental systems;  SGER: Carbon nanomaterial translocation and transfer

Degree of Polar Derivatization Estimated Organic Phase Partitioning Coefficient Molecular Aqueous Availability Biological Response C 60 Biotransformation and Bioaccumulation: Environmental Impact Implications Objective: Evaluate the susceptibility of fullerene species to biochemical transformations and their biological significance. Approach: Use 14 C 60 to study biotransformations; determine how biotransformation affects C 60 toxicity; quantify bioavailability and bioaccumulation of C60 in earthworms Impact: Microbial-mediated transformations of fullerenes could significantly influence their mobility, bioavailability, reactivity, toxicity and overall environmental impact. Pedro Alvarez - Rice University 5 BES

Carbon Nanotubes in Soils: Transport, Filtration and Impact on Soil Microbial Community Number of stress genes induced or repressed more than 2-fold for cells exposed to SWNTs and MWNTs compared to Control without CNTs Objective: Assess the extent of transport and retention of CNTs in soils and the impact of retained CNTs on the soil microbial community. Approach: Transport experiments in packed columns will be carried out to quantify the transport and filtration behavior of CNTs in soils and model sand; retained CNTs will be enumerated; filtration/deposition rate of SWNTs and the associated filtration mechanisms will be evaluated; and effects of soil perturbations on mobilization of retained CNTs will be evaluated. Application of real-time PCR and the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis will be used to quantify and verify the changes of microbial population in environmental samples. Menachem Elimelech - Yale University 6 CBET

Fate of Nanoparticles in Urban Atmosphere Objective: Explore whether ozone, present in concentrations as low as those found in the clean to slightly polluted atmosphere, can chemically react with nanocarbons: single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes Approach: Measured quantities of nanocarbons will be exposed to laboratory-generated ozone in an experimental chamber in the concentrations of 10s to 100s ppb. Samples of nanocarbons will be exposed to a steady flow of ozone containing air streams for periods of up to two to three months. The samples’ surface chemistry and the structure of the nanotubes and their chemical properties will be analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray Photospectroscopy before and after long-term exposure to diluted-concentrations of ozone Impact: This study will help to determine the fate of nanocarbons after being released into the air. It will reveal if the atmosphere is capable of Partially Oxidizing these nanomaterials or degrading them completely into common, less Harmful pollutants, such as CO and CO 2 Sandeep Agnihotri - University of Tennessee 7 CBET

CS 2 Qdots Core/shell CdS:Mn/ZnS Qdots  Qdots were synthesized using AOT/heptane/water water-in-oil micro-emulsion  Cd 2+ ion selective MCCL (i.e. 1,10-diaza-18-crown-6) were directly attached to the Qdot surface via zero-length covalent coupling using CS 2  MCCL quenched Qdot luminescence via electron transfer process  MCCL to Qdot electron transfer process is reversible A Simple Strategy for Quantum Dot Assisted Selective Detection of Cadmium Ions Scheme showing synthesis of Cd ion selective ligand conjugated Qdots Swadeshmukul Santra - University of Central Florida 8 CBET

Nitrification Inhibition by Silver Nanoparticles PI Hu is studying the inhibitory effects of silver nanoparticles on biological nitrification. Silver nanoparticles can originate from many sources and can inhibit nitrification. Zhiqiang Hu University of Missouri-Columbia 9 CBET

CAREER: Understanding Carbon Nanoassembly in Biological and Environmental Systems SGER: Carbon Nanomaterial Translocation & Transfer PI Ke is studying the uptake, translocation and transmission of carbon nanomaterials in plants. This image, resembling a guitar finger board, displays the uptake of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (bright agglomerates) by the vascular system (tubular structure) of a rice plant. It shows first-hand evidence of nanomaterials discharged into the food chain and illustrates the potential impact of nanotechnology on human health. Pu-Chun Ke - Clemson University-Columbia 10 CBET