title: Improving the prediction of environmental fate of engineered nanomaterials by fractal modelling.
abstract: A critical analysis of the available engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) environmental fate modelling approaches indicates that existing tools do not satisfactorily account for the complexities of nanoscale phenomena. Fractal modelling (FM) can complement existing kinetic fate models by including more accurate interpretations of shape and structure, density and collision efficiency parameters to better describe homo- and heteroaggregation. Pathways to including hierarchical symmetry concepts and a route to establishing a structural classification of nanomaterials based on FM are proposed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Solid State Physics and Nanostructures, Voronezh State University, Universitetskaya pl., 1, 394006 Voronezh, Russia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Avilov
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics & Statistics, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, 30172 Mestre (VE), Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lamon
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics & Statistics, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, 30172 Mestre (VE), Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hristozov
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics & Statistics, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, 30172 Mestre (VE), Italy. Electronic address: marcom@unive.it.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marcomini
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry
keywords: ENM structural classification; ENMs environmental fate; Fractal modelling; Hierarchal symmetry; IFS fractals; Kinetic models