TY - JOUR A1 - Theissmann, Ralf A1 - Kluwig, Manfred A1 - Koch, Thomas T1 - A reproducible number-based sizing method for pigment-grade titanium dioxide JF - Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology PY - 2014/// VL - 5 SP - 1815 EP - 1822 SN - 2190-4286 DO - 10.3762/bjnano.5.192 PB - Beilstein-Institut JA - Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. UR - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.5.192 KW - electron microscopy KW - particle size KW - pigment KW - sizing KW - titanium dioxide N2 - A strong demand for reliable characterization methods of particulate materials is triggered by the prospect of forthcoming national and international regulations concerning the classification of nanomaterials. Scientific efforts towards standardized number-based sizing methods have so far been concentrated on model systems, such as spherical gold or silica nanoparticles. However, for industrial particulate materials, which are typically targets of regulatory efforts, characterisation is in most cases complicated by irregular particle shapes, broad size distributions and a strong tendency to agglomeration. Reliable sizing methods that overcome these obstacles, and are practical for industrial use, are still lacking. By using the example of titanium dioxide, this paper shows that both necessities are well met by the sophisticated counting algorithm presented here, which is based on the imaging of polished sections of embedded particles and subsequent automated image analysis. The data presented demonstrate that the typical difficulties of sizing processes are overcome by the proposed method of sample preparation and image analysis. In other words, a robust, reproducible and statistically reliable method is presented, which leads to a number-based size distribution of pigment-grade titanium dioxide, for example, and therefore allows reliable classification of this material according to forthcoming regulations. ER -