Nanoparticles were chosen for study as they are ubiquitous in nature and they have been found associated with trace metals in this and other environments. Their size is small enough to keep them suspended in the water column, making them effective metal transporters on a daily basis. Many minerals also exhibit property changes as their size decreases into the nano-regime. Therefore, nanoparticles could be affecting both the transport and speciation of metals in the environment, making the understanding of these associations of paramount importance.

I am currently utilizing FlFFF coupled to multi-angle laser light scattering (MALLS) and HR-ICPMS to determine the chemistry as a function of the size of nanoparticles which I extracted from riverbed sediment samples. These extracts are also prepared for TEM analysis to determine the exact mineral phases which are the most common trace metal hosts.