Measuring the Silver Composition of Nanocolloids by Inductively Coupled Plasma–Optical Emission Spectroscopy: A Laboratory Experiment for Chemistry and Engineering Students

The increased worldwide exploitation of nanomaterials has reinforced the importance of introducing nanoscale aspects into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. To meet this need, a novel nano-laboratory module was developed and successfully performed by science and engineering students. The main goal of the experiment was to accurately quantify the total silver composition of a nanocolloid with modern inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) instrumentation in conjunction with two well-established methods that are heavily employed in both research and industrial settings. Specifically, undergraduate and graduate students estimated the total silver composition of Creighton colloidal nanoparticles via the external calibration method (16.3 ± 4.7 mg L-1) and the standard addition method (14.9 ± 4.2 mg L-1) at two emission wavelengths (328.068 and 338.898 nm). The assessment of basic laboratory skills and the class assignments showed that the students successfully mastered the various aspects of sample/standard preparation, the operation of the ICP-OES instrument, and the data analysis. Students’ interest and experience in this laboratory were highly rated in the anonymous student evaluations.