On September 25, 2024, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) posted a NIOSH Science Blog item entitled “Celebrating 20 Years of the Nanotechnology Research Center: Measuring the Small Things,” the final installment of the blog series commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC). According to the item, when NTRC was created in 2004, one of its biggest challenges was understanding exactly what to measure and how to measure it. Today, NTRC conducts research and develops recommendations on appropriate ways to make measurements of nanomaterials in workplaces, contributes to the qualification and proper use of reference materials, and contributes to development of consensus standards. The item includes the following measurement highlights:

• Workplace Measurements: NTRC established guidance on a practical and reproducible method to perform exposure assessments in the workplace through the Nanoparticle Emission Assessment Technique (NEAT) model as part of its Approaches to Safe Nanotechnology publication. The method used portable, direct-reading instruments, and filter-based air samples. NTRC later updated NEAT to address interferences from incidental background nanomaterials, calling it NEAT 2.0. As reported in our August 1, 2022, blog item, in 2022, NIOSH published a Technical Report: Occupational Exposure Sampling for Nanomaterials, on the best ways to sample for nanomaterials in the workplace.
• Reference Materials: According to the blog item, NIOSH researchers worked closely with the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Research Council — Canada to ensure that some reference materials produced by the metrology institutes would include properties that best support nanotechnology research goals identified by NIOSH and its partners. Reference materials developed include titanium dioxide nanomaterial and cellulose nanocrystal suspension.
• Consensus Standards: During the emergence of nanotechnology, NIOSH also recognized that standards would help ensure consistency and quality in measurements for workplace exposure assessments, laboratory research, and all areas of occupational health and safety. According to the blog item, NIOSH is active in several technical committees committed to developing standards for nanotechnology, including ASTM International Committee E56 on Nanotechnology and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/Technical Committee (TC) 229 — Nanotechnologies.

The blog item states that “[l]ooking forward, we recognize the growing complexity in nanomaterials such as biological nanomaterials, systems made of multiple nanomaterials, and self-forming nanomaterials.” NIOSH notes that some workplaces are already using new, advanced materials that include nanomaterials and have their own unique characteristics. Changes in workplace technologies, such as three-dimensional (3D) printing, will present new measurement challenges.