Workers’ Exposure Assessment during the Production of Graphene Nanoplatelets in R&D Laboratory

Abstract

Widespread production and use of engineered nanomaterials in industrial and research settings raise concerns about their health impact in the workplace. In the last years, graphene-based nanomaterials have gained particular interest in many application fields. Among them, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) showed superior electrical, optical and thermal properties, low-cost and availability. Few and conflicting results have been reported about toxicity and potential effects on workers’ health, during the production and handling of these nanostructures. Due to this lack of knowledge, systematic approaches are needed to assess risks and quantify workers’ exposure to GNPs. This work applies a multi-metric approach to assess workers’ exposure during the production of GNPs, based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) methodology by integrating real-time measurements and personal sampling. In particular, we analyzed the particle number concentration, the average diameter and the lung deposited surface area of airborne nanoparticles during the production process conducted by thermal exfoliation in two different ways, compared to the background. These results have been integrated by electron microscopic and spectroscopic analysis on the filters sampled by personal impactors. The study identifies the process phases potentially at risk for workers and reports quantitative information about the parameters that may influence the exposure in order to propose recommendations for a safer design of GNPs production process.

Intratracheal instillation of graphene oxide decreases anti‐virus responses and lipid contents via suppressing Toll‐like receptor 3 in mouse livers

“…Graphene oxide (GO) are carbon‐based 2D nanomaterials (NMs) with outstanding electrical, optical, and mechanical properties and are widely used in many important fields, such as environmental protection (Zhang et al, 2021), electronic devices (Kamran et al, 2019), medicine (Yildiz et al, 2021), and food packaging (Wang et al, 2022). In the working place, occupational exposure to graphene NMs has been revealed, although the exact exposure levels vary largely (Bellagamba et al, 2020; Boccuni et al, 2020; Lee et al, 2016; Ursini et al, 2021). However, it has been suggested that exposure to GO may induce adverse health effects to cardiovascular, central nervous, and immune systems, although the toxicity of GO is still in debate and thus may need further studies (Cao, 2022b; Chen et al, 2020; De Marchi et al, 2018).…”

Rapid and efficient testing of the toxicity of graphene-related materials in primary human lung cells

“…The major potential routes of graphene into the body are inhalation, ingestion, and dermal adsorption 3 . Exposure to graphene is variable during its production process, involving direct interaction with the respiratory tract if adequate personal protective equipment is not used 56 . Concerns about the toxic effect of graphene on the lungs also extend to its integration into everyday products such as face masks 52 and biomedical applications such as intranasal immunization 57 .…”

Rapid and Efficient Testing of The Toxicity of Graphene-Related Materials in Primary Human Lung Cells

“…The major potential routes of graphene into the body are inhalation, ingestion, and dermal adsorption [3]. Exposure to graphene is variable during its production process, involving direct interaction with the respiratory tract if adequate personal protective equipment is not used [54]. Concerns about the toxic effect of graphene on the lungs also extend to its integration into everyday products such as face masks [50] and biomedical applications such as intranasal immunization [55].…”