Nano-materials (including engineered nanoparticles (NP), as well as nano-structure materials) are increasingly used in many consumer products due to their ‘beneficial’ properties. However, while these materials are certainly beneficial regarding their respective application, they might not be as beneficial in the aquatic environment. The (unintended) release and the fate of these nano-materials in the aquatic environment are only poorly understood mainly due to the he lack of adequate analytical techniques to detect and characterize these materials in the environment. Our research, therefore, aims at combining well established standard characterization methods from colloidal sciences, with new methods from materials science and with own developments to detect, quantify and understand the effects of the ‘nano-materials’ in the aquatic environment.
