UK’s National Physical Laboratory to evaluate NanoSight
The UK’s national metrology institute, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), is starting a one-year evaluation programme of NanoSight’s nanoparticle characterisation technology, Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA). The programme will take the form of a Joint Industry Project, funded in part by government. The initial objective is a validation of NTA and a comparison with existing nanoparticle sizing techniques and standards.
Amesbury-based NanoSight is a world leading provider of instruments for the optical detection and real time analysis of sub-micron particles.
Dr Alex Cuenat, NPL’s nanomaterials group leader, said: "What differentiates NanoSight from existing light-scattering techniques is that it provides a direct view of the sample under analysis and rapid quantitative estimation of the sample size, distribution and concentration."
According to Cuenat, most ensemble measurements are made using dynamic light scattering (DLS) or photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS). These methods are very fast, analysing thousands of particles in a second, but they cannot accurately analyse multi-modal dispersions or follow changes during analysis.
NanoSight’s Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) differs in that it measures particle speed, unlike DLS, which measures the intensity of light scattered. "We first saw a NanoSight prototype in 2005 and recognised how, with development, the technique had potential to fill gaps in characterisation methodologies of sub-micron dispersions," added Cuernat. "Since then, we have seen this technique develop well, so, although we do not know yet how this will result, we are enthusiastic about running an in-depth validation."
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