Stable silver isotope fractionation in the natural transformation process of silver nanoparticles

Nanoparticles in the environment can form by natural processes or be released due to human activities. Owing to limited analytical methods, the behaviour of nanoparticles in the natural environment is poorly understood and until now they have only been described by the variations in the nanoparticle size or the concentration of the element of interest. Here we show that by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to measure silver (Ag) isotope ratios it is possible to understand the transformation processes of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the environment. We found that the formation and dissolution of AgNPs under natural conditions caused significant variations in the ratio of natural Ag isotopes ((107)Ag and (109)Ag) with an isotopic enrichment factor (ε) up to 0.86‰. Furthermore, we show that engineered AgNPs have distinctly different isotope fractionation effects to their naturally formed counterparts. Further studies will be needed to understand whether isotope analysis can be used to reveal the sources of AgNPs in the environment.