A new nanometrological strategy for titanium dioxide nanoparticles screening and confirmation in personal care products by CE-spICP-MS

• Published in: Talanta (Oxford) Vol. 219; p. 121385
• Main Authors: Adelantado, Carlos, Ríos, Ángel, Zougagh, Mohammed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.11.2020
• Subjects: adsorption; atomic absorption spectrometry; Capillary electrophoresis; Cosmetics; cysteine; Inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry; ingredients; Mass Spectrometry; Nanoparticles; Particle Size; particle size distribution; Personal care products; screening; Single-particle; sodium phosphate; Titanium; titanium dioxide; Titanium dioxide nanoparticles; toothpaste; Personal care products; Single-particle; Capillary electrophoresis; Titanium dioxide nanoparticles; Inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry
• ISSN: 0039-9140; 1873-3573; 1873-3573
• DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121385

A new nanometrological approach was developed for screening of titania nanoparticles by capillary electrophoresis after adsorption of a target analyte namely l-cysteine onto the nanoparticles in a sodium phosphate buffer, followed by titanium elemental analysis by means of inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and size distribution measurements by single-particle mode. This analytical strategy involved a first screening of nanotitania in actual samples by electrophoresis, sensitivity being enhanced by cysteine which acts as a nanoparticles stabiliser. Detection and quantitation limits were 0.31 ng μL−1 and 1.03 ng μL−1 respectively for anatase nanoparticles in capillary electrophoresis, and a high amount of titanium was found in the samples subject to study (lip balm and two types of toothpaste) by total elemental analysis. Besides, the potential of single-particle modality for inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry was exploited for a verification of particle size distribution, then confirming the presence of titanium dioxide nanoparticles as an ingredient in the composition of the real samples and validating the overall strategy herein presented. [Display omitted] •Rapid capillary electrophoresis screening of titania nanoparticles.•Application to lip balm and toothpaste samples.•Determination of total titanium in these samples by ICP-MS.•Single-particle ICP-MS for confirmation of the presence of nanotitania.