Toxicity of novel anti-fouling nanomaterials in Marine organismsv

• Autor(a) principal: Figueiredo, Joana Rita Monteiro
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/22019
• topic: Organismos marinhos; Toxicologia ambiental; Nanomateriais

Biofouling is an ecological succession of fouling communities in submerged surfaces that has extensive ecological, environmental and economic impacts worldwide when developed over man-made structures. In order to minimize this problem, biocides with anti-fouling properties are commonly used in protective coatings of submerged structures. Some decades ago, organotin compounds were used as effective anti-fouling agents, however they were completely banned in 2008 due to the toxic and biomagnification effects. As a consequence, a new generation of biocides were developed with lower toxicity and persistence in the environment when compared to organotin compounds. Recently, one of these biocides (DCOIT) was encapsulated in an engineered nanomaterial (silica mesoporous nanocapsules, SiNC-DCOIT) in order to prevent the interaction of biocides with coatings’ ingredients and control their leaching rate during the early lifetime of conventional paints, with environmental and economic benefits. The present study aimed to assess the toxicity of SiNC-DCOIT and a modified version of the engineered nanomaterial including two biocides, the SiNC-DCOIT coated with silver, to marine species and compare its toxicity with the free counterparts (empty SiNC, DCOIT and Ag). Ecotoxicity tests were carried out with eleven marine species, including bacteria (Vibrio fischeri), microalgae (Isochrysis galbana, Nannochloropsis gaditana, Phaeodactylum tricornutum), rotifers (Brachionus plicatilis), bivalves (Cerastoderma edule, Mytilus galloprovincialis), polychaetes (Hediste diversicolor), crustaceans (Artemia salina, Palaemon varians) and echinoderms (Paracentrotus lividus), following standard tests (with some adaptions in some cases). Acute or short-term chronic endpoints were used upon each species and adopted test. Globally, values of L/E/IC50 for SiNC-DCOIT, SiNC-Ag and SiNC-DCOIT-Ag were higher than the estimated values for DCOIT and silver (dissolved in solution), except for some target groups involved in the early fouling stages, proving that these alternative agents are more environmentally-friendly comparatively to free biocides. The obtained L/E/IC50 and NOEC values from the tested compounds were then used to create species sensitivity distributions together with data from literature. The HC5 and PNEC values derivated from these curves showed that the hazard of DCOIT and silver is reduced when encapsulated, highlighting these novel nanomaterials as a promising anti-fouling solution.