Surfactants decrease the toxicity of ZnO, TiO2 and Ni nanoparticles to Daphnia magna

The objective of the study was the estimation of the effect of surfactants on the toxicity of ZnO, TiO2 and Ni nanoparticles (ENPs) towards Daphnia magna. The effect of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), triton X-100 (TX100) and 4-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (SDBS) was tested. The Daphtoxkit F (TM) test (conforming to OECD Guideline 202 and ISO 6341) was applied for the toxicity testing. Both the surfactants and the ENPs were toxic to D. magna. The addition of ENPs to a solution of the surfactants caused a significant reduction of toxicity of ENPs. The range of reduction of the toxicity of the ENPs depended on the kind of the ENPs and their concentration in the solution, and also on the kind of surfactant. For nano-ZnO the greatest reduction of toxicity was caused by CTAB, while for nano-TiO2 the largest drop of toxicity was observed after the addition of TX100. In the case of nano-Ni, the effect of the surfactants depended on its concentration. Most probably the reduction of toxicity of ENPs in the presence of the surfactants was related with the formation of ENPs aggregates that inhibited the availability of ENPs for D. magna.