Ciaran Murphy, Head of Product Management at Malvern Instruments, will review the benefits and limitations of common nanoparticle sizing technologies in a presentation at Nanotechnology & the Coatings Industry 2013. This one-day conference, organized by NanoKTN, PRA (Paints Research Association) and BCF (British Coatings Federation), takes place on 8 October 2013 at the Nottingham Belfry (UK). Mr Murphy will be one of a line up of conference speakers that includes specialists drawn from both industry and academia. Malvern will also be exhibiting the Zetasizer Nano ZSP, the newest addition to the company’s Zetasizer family of nanoparticle characterization systems which are widely used across the paints and coatings industry.

In his presentation “Nanoparticle sizing – Think of a number”, Ciaran Murphy will review some of the more common sizing technologies indicating their capabilities and limitations in the light of the changing regulatory landscape. Nanotechnology-based products can provide superior performance attributes, and the size and size distribution of nanoparticles in a coating formulation has a large influence on its functional characteristics. (Nano) sizing characterization in general is drawing increasing interest from manufacturers and regulators with the former concerned about achieving the desired performance at appropriate cost and the latter concerned about toxicological impacts.

The Malvern Zetasizer series measures particle and molecule size from below a nanometer to several microns using dynamic light scattering, zeta potential and electrophoretic mobility using electrophoretic light scattering, and molecular weight using static light scattering. In addition the system can be connected to a GPC / SEC system to use as a chromatography detector. The system is available in a range of variants that enables selection of the best system for each specific application and budget.