The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a grant of $5 million over the next four years to support the LCnano Network as part of the Life Cycle of Nanomaterials project. The focus of the project, which is led by LCnano Network Director and Senior Sustainability Scientist Paul Westerhoff, is to help ensure the safety of nanomaterials throughout their life cycles – from manufacture to use and disposal.

Nanoparticles, which are approximately 1 to 100 nanometers in size, are used in an increasing number of consumer products to provide texture, resiliency and, in some cases, antibacterial protection. Westerhoff says there remains “a big knowledge gap” about how, or if, nanomaterials are released from consumer products into the environment as they move through their life cycles, eventually ending up in soils and water systems. The multi-university team of engineers, chemists, toxicologists and social scientists will collaborate with industry and government laboratories to find ways of reducing such uncertainties.