Search

Nanoparticles are being used increasingly in new fields for new applications. Thoroughcharacterization of particle properties such as size, aggregation, and mass are key to understanding particle behavior. In this dissertation I discuss a variety of new measurement approaches using the aerosol-based technique: differential mobility analysis (DMAS). This technique consists of the combination (hyphenation) of several components, the primary being an ion mobility chamber for the spatial separation of nanoparticles. The specific aerosol source and detector used is flexible and allows for wide applicability of the technique. The applications discussed here relate to a variety of everyday scenarios. Medicinal protein particles are studied to improve the health outcomes associated with this growing class of medicine. Nanoparticle catalysts are studied to improve the activity and repeatability, analogous to how a catalytic converter is used in cars to reduce combustion emissions. Detailed size measurements are made for gold nanoparticles, a class of particles that have been used for cancer treatments and as carrier particles, for example to transport medicine to a particular location within the body. Finally, determination of nanoparticle size is studied by comparing results from different instruments, as determining size in the nanometer scale is more complicated than an analogous measurement of a macroscopic sphere (for example, measuring the length with a ruler and comparing the result to the length derived from the mass of a sphere with a known density). In the second chapter, I demonstrate protein aggregation kinetics measurements by DMAS and asymmetrical flow field flow fractionation. Thermal aggregation was conducted in traditional formulation buffers and good agreement was determined between the two techniques. These are potential alternative instruments to the gold standard, size exclusion chromatography, used by the biopharmaceutical industry. In the third chapter