Size characterization and quantification of TiO₂ and SiO₂ in food matrix by sedimentation field-flow fractionation (SdFFF) and relative techniques

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanoparticles are widely used as food additives. It has been reported that TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanoparticles as food additives may be toxic, possibly causing cancer or other diseases. It is thus necessary to develop effective methods for analysis of physical and chemical properties of TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanoparticles.
Field-flow fractionation (FFF) is a family of analytical tool for separation and characterization of polydispersed nanoparticles. Among the FFF family members, sedimentation field-flow fractionation (SdFFF) is suitable for analyzing nanoparticles based on their sizes and/or densities.
In this study, SdFFF was setup, and was used to perform separation and quantitative analysis of TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanoparticles after mixing with food matrices such as sucrose or casein. This study focuses on quantitative analysis of the nanoparticles mixed in food matrix, and, to some extent, the size change of the nanoparticles in food matrix. Results show that sucrose promotes aggregation of TiO₂, resulting in an increase in the size of TiO₂ nanoparticles. Casein has essentially no effect on the dispersing of SiO₂ nanoparticles. This study demonstrates that SdFFF is a useful and reliable method for separation and quantitation of food-grade nanoparticles.