Identifying and measuring nanomaterials

Defining and identifying nanomaterials is challenging, and so is measuring them in products and in the environment. Reports below provide an intro-duction to these challenges.

Definitions

Both the European Commission and ISO have formulated definitions of nanomaterials. While ISO has defined a range of terms related to nanomaterials to be used in technical contexts, the Commission recommends a definition of nanomaterial to be used in EU regulatory contexts. The EU definition is used in the Statutory Order (644/2014) establishing the Danish nanoproduct register.

The following reports present and discuss definitions:

Analytical determination

The very small size of nanomaterials poses challenges in relation to measuring them in products,  in environmental matrices, and when released from products. This makes it difficult to regulate nanomaterials and determine whether a material fulfils a nanomaterial definition.

The following reports address issues related to analytical identification and measurement of nanomaterials: