c tio2

The author thanks Marco Leona, Scientist-in-Charge of the Department of Scientific Research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for conducting fluorescence spectrometry on Wheel of Fortune and a valuable discussion of the research, as well as Silvia Centeno, Research Scientist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who performed Raman analysis on the watercolors and also contributed her insight. The phenomenon of the phosphorescing lithopone was originally discovered during the author's fellowship in the Sherman Fairchild Center for the Conservation of Works on Paper, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The author thanks all her colleagues for their ideas and support during the research of this paper, and special thanks to Rachel Mustalish for her assistance in editing this work.

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In order to contribute with experimental evidence that could help to achieve a better understanding of the field for future regulation, in the present work, the biocompatibility of commercial P25TiO2NPs (one type of TiO2NPs used in sunscreen formulations) and two novel functionalized P25TiO2NPs were evaluated under solar simulated irradiation. White light, generated by red, blue, and yellow LEDs, together with UV ones, was chosen to simulate the solar spectra. Functionalization of TiO2NPs was made with antioxidant vitamins in order to prevent the expected photo-initiated ROS production when nanoparticles are exposed to the simulated solar spectra. Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and vitamin C were chosen to carry out the functionalization because they are water-soluble, low-cost, and are a constitutive part of biological processes. In addition, it is known that both have the potential to prevent macromolecular oxidation by ROS [23][24][25][26].

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Freshwater algae show low-to-moderate susceptibility to TiO2 exposure, with more pronounced toxic effects in the presence of UV irradiation. It has also been shown that nano-sized TiO2 is significantly more toxic to algae Pseudokirchneriella sub-capitata than submicron-sized TiO2. Hund-Rinke and Simon  reported that UV irradiated 25 nm TiO2 NPs are more toxic to green freshwater algae Desmodesmus subspicatus than UV irradiated 50 nm particles, which is in agreement with Hartmann et al. UV irradiated TiO2 NPs also inactivated other algae species such as AnabaenaMicrocystisMelsoira and Chroococcus. It was demonstrated that smaller particles have a greater potential to penetrate the cell interior than submicron-sized particles and larger aggregates. Studies have shown that the amount of TiO2 adsorbed on algal cells can be up to 2.3 times their own weight.

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For research published in 2022 study in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, scientists examined “the genotoxicity and the intracellular reactive oxygen species induction by physiologically relevant concentrations of three different TiO2 nanomaterials in Caco-2 and HT29-MTX-E12 intestinal cells, while considering the potential influence of the digestion process in the NMs’ physiochemical characteristics.” They found a “DNA-damaging effect dependent on the nanomaterial,” along with the micronucleus assay suggesting “effects on chromosomal integrity, an indicator of cancer risk, in the HT29-MTX-E12 cells, for all the tested TiO2 nanomaterials.” Researchers concluded that the results showcase “evidence of concern” regarding titanium dioxide used as a food additive.

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