8th World Congress on Particle Technology

(122e) Multiple Particle Size Distribution Characterization Techniques Applied to Certified Standards in the Nanoparticle Size Region

Authors

Rawle, A. - Presenter, Malvern Panalytical Inc
Polydispersity is the bane of all particle size distribution techniques. For irregular and polydisperse materials the resultant size distribution is dependent on the utilized technique and sizes are generally reported as some form of spherical or circular equivalent. In the nano (~ 1 – 100 nm) region there are relatively few size standards that are available and these are not always applicable to a range of techniques. Standards are important in confirming and verifying any instrument’s performance providing confidence both in the technique and the individual instrument selected.

This study compares and contrasts the following techniques on the NIST gold colloid reference materials RM 8011, 8012, 8013:

  • Dynamic light scattering (DLS): see ISO 22412:2017

  • Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA): see ISO 19430:2016

  • Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS): see ISO 17867:2015

We have also examined a larger system, a titanium dioxide slurry (nominally 300 nm mean size), on 3 techniques:

  • Laser diffraction: see ISO13320:2009

  • Dynamic light Scattering

  • Ultra-Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (USAXS)

We will indicate the results obtained on all systems for the different techniques and highlight the reasons why these techniques provide different results on the ‘same’ particle size ‘standards’