ABSTRACT
The extensive use of engineered nanomaterials in a large variety of emerging technologies and commercial products implies their release into the different ecosystems in the environment, including the marine environment. The study of the fate and transport of ENMs in marine environments, as well as their exposure and bioaccumulation in marine organisms requires obtaining analytical information about these ENMs in a wide range of marine samples. The strategies currently used are based on performing laboratory experiments on fate and transport of ENMs and testing their toxicity with different organisms, being limited to the use of a few analytical techniques, mostly atomic spectrometry, to determine total element contents or, in combination with fractionation techniques, to differentiate between dissolved and particulate forms of the element present in the ENM. In contrast, the detection, characterization, and quantification of ENMs at relevant environmental conditions and concentrations is a challenge in environmental nanosciences that requires multi-methodological approaches. In this chapter, fate and toxicity studies related to ENMs in the marine environment and the key issues related to the analytical tools currently used are reviewed, together with an overview about the state-of-the-art of ENMs analysis in complex samples.
