Hudson-Smith, Natalie2023-02-032023-02-032020-11https://hdl.handle.net/11299/252335University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. November 2020. Major: Chemistry. Advisor: Christy Haynes. 1 computer file (PDF); xvi, 183 pages.Due to the unique and advantageous physiochemical properties of nanoparticles, they have been increasingly incorporated into consumer products and emerging technologies. The manufacture, wear and tear of use, and disposal of these nano-enabled products will likely result in the release of nanoparticles into the environment. Unfortunately, environmental response and regulation, as well as public awareness, has lagged behind the development and inclusion of nanoparticles into products. In recent years, there have been advances in understanding the mechanisms of toxicity to many nanoparticle types to model organisms in lab conditions. However, there is a still a need to advance these understandings of interaction with and toxicity to organisms to more closely represent the conditions in the environment, including their transformations in complex, protein-containing media and their toxicity towards communities of organisms as opposed to single model species.Chapter One outlines the basis for this work, including the conclusions of previous work in identifying the mechanisms of toxicity of an energy storage nanomaterial, NMC, and highlights some of the challenges in communicating the advances in nanotechnology research to the public. Chapter Two illustrates the role of nanoparticle morphology and surface area in toxicity. Three morphologies of NMC, with the same chemical composition, are evaluated for toxicity. Ultimately, toxicity of the materials is shown to be most predicted by surface area due to the correlation between surface area and dissolution. In Chapter Three, the formation of a protein corona on these same three morphologies of NMC is explored. The formation of a protein corona has been shown to impact the transformations of nanoparticles and often, mitigate their toxicity. Four environmentally relevant proteins and a model protein are studied. Preliminary results show that surface area does not predict protein corona formation for these NMC materials it predicted toxicity. Additionally, results suggest that protein corona formation on NMC may not mitigate toxicity for this class of nanomaterials. In Chapter Four, advances in methodology for studying nanomaterial toxicity in poly-microbial communities are demonstrated. Nanomaterials have been shown to induce dysbiosis in microbiota and may have a different impact of poly-bacterial communities than they do on individual monocultures of the species that make up such communities. However, most techniques to study nanomaterial impacts on communities are expensive and labor intensive. Here, modifications for a method previously established to assess nanomaterial toxicity to bacteria are presented. Chapters Five, Six, and Seven focus on scientific communication about sustainability and nanotechnology to students and the public. Chapter Five presents a module with videos paired with hands-on demonstrations for explaining the chemistry behind climate change. Chapter Six presents a low-cost, model transmission electron microscope (TEM) that students can use to make pseudo-micrographs. Evaluations of this model and activity show that it is effective in explaining this characterization technique and engaging for students. Chapter Seven presents the development of a text-based adventure game that leads the player through a nano-scale world. These modules are all suitable for scientific communications or teaching and provide new ways to communicate modern science, particularly nanotechnology, to the public.ennanotechnologynanotoxicityscience educationThesis or Dissertation