Transport of silver nanoparticles capped with different stabilizers in water saturated porous media

This study investigated the transport of citrate and polyvinylpyrrolidone (pvp) capped silver nanoparticles in water saturated sand column. silver nanoparticles were synthesized using tollens' method and coated with sodium citrate and pvp. characterization particle size and zeta potential of silver nanoparticles was conducted by dynamic light scattering and zetasizer. transport of silver nanoparticles was determined using an icp-ms. the result of this study shows that pvp coated silver nanoparticles is more stable than citrate coated nanoparticles. the retention of silver nanoparticles in the sand packed column ranged from 25-99%,suggesting they are quite mobile in the porous media. ionic strength plays an important role in the nanoparticle transport. high ionic strength influent water can result in an increase of nanoparticle retention.