NANOSILVER IN THE WASH: ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY: Fate of fabric-embedded particles depends on conditions, products

SOCKS AND OTHER GARMENTS that stay odor-free thanks to antimicrobial nanoscale silver particles are increasingly showing up on store shelves. But what happens to the silver when such products are washed remains an open question. New research by Bernd Nowack and colleagues at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing & Research provides a first look at the behavior of nanosilver textiles under real-world washing conditions ( Environ. Sci. Technol. , DOI: 10.1021/es9018332). The work builds on earlier studies conducted in water without detergents by researchers at Arizona State University (C&EN, April 14, 2008, page 10). Nowack and colleagues found that the total amount and form of silver (dissolved or particulate) that leaches during washing varies significantly depending on the product and the conditions. The researchers tested nine textiles and found that the percentage of total silver lost during washing varied from less than 1% to 45%. “Some particles are only loosely attached to the ...