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CC BY 4.0 · Sustainability & Circularity NOW
DOI: 10.1055/a-2625-5344
Original Article

Supporting Safe-by-Design of Multi-Component Nanomaterials by Linking Functionality-Related Properties with Potential Safety Issues

Elmer Swart 
1   Centre for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands (Ringgold ID: RIN10206)
,
Jan-Harm Westerdiep
1   Centre for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands (Ringgold ID: RIN10206)
,
Elena Badetti
2   Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy (Ringgold ID: RIN19047)
,
Andrea Brunelli
2   Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy (Ringgold ID: RIN19047)
,
Virginia Cazzagon
3   Materials Safety, Leitat, Terrassa, Spain (Ringgold ID: RIN202560)
,
Teresa Fernandes
4   School of Energy Geoscience Infrastructure and-Society, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Ringgold ID: RIN3120)
,
Anniek Gielen
1   Centre for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands (Ringgold ID: RIN10206)
,
Danail Hristozov
5   Sustainability, East European Research and Innovation Enterprise Ltd, Sofia, Bulgaria (Ringgold ID: RIN689565)
6   Sustainability, GreenDecision S.r.l, Venice, Italy
,
Petra van Kesteren
1   Centre for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands (Ringgold ID: RIN10206)
,
Nynke Krans
7   Center for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, Netherlands
,
Samia Ouhajji
1   Centre for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands (Ringgold ID: RIN10206)
,
Willie Peijnenburg
7   Center for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, Netherlands
8   Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands (Ringgold ID: RIN4496)
,
Hubert RAUSCHER 
9   Directorate Health and Food, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy (Ringgold ID: RIN54504)
,
Lya Soeteman-Hernández 
7   Center for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, Netherlands
,
Vicki Stone
10   Nano-Safety Research Group, Heriot-Watt University School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Ringgold ID: RIN150983)
,
Georgia Tsiliki
11   Athena Research Center, Athena Research Center, Marousi, Greece (Ringgold ID: RIN112154)
,
Agnes Oomen
7   Center for Safety of Substances and Products, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, Netherlands
12   Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Ringgold ID: RIN1234)
› Author Affiliations
Supported by: EU H2020 SUNSHINE 952924
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Advanced materials, including multicomponent nanomaterials (MCNMs) are designed to show specific new or enhanced functionalities. They may contribute to solutions to current societal challenges, yet they represent a challenge themselves to safe innovation and risk assessment. One challenge is the lack of available toxicological information at early innovation stages. Instead, information on functionality and material properties is generally available at early innovation stages, but such information is typically not used in safety assessments. Safe-by-Design aims to improve the safety of materials and products by integrating safety considerations with functionality as early as possible in innovation. Here a conceptual approach is presented that uses functionality-related material properties to flag potential impacts on risks and guide Safe-by-Design. This approach relies on relations between material properties and their potential impact on release, fate/toxicokinetics and toxicity. These relations are illustrated for 21 new or enhanced material properties of MCNMs. Applicability of this approach was explored through several case-studies. The presented approach is designed to ‘flag’ potential aspects of risk for further consideration. Identified aspects may support application of Safe-by-Design for MCNMs, including grouping approaches to enable sharing of safety information. The approach is relevant at early innovation stages where toxicological information is largely absent.



Publication History

Received: 20 January 2025

Accepted after revision: 31 March 2025

Accepted Manuscript online:
02 June 2025

© . The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Bibliographical Record
Elmer Swart, Jan-Harm Westerdiep, Elena Badetti, Andrea Brunelli, Virginia Cazzagon, Teresa Fernandes, Anniek Gielen, Danail Hristozov, Petra van Kesteren, Nynke Krans, Samia Ouhajji, Willie Peijnenburg, Hubert RAUSCHER, Lya Soeteman-Hernández, Vicki Stone, Georgia Tsiliki, Agnes Oomen. Supporting Safe-by-Design of Multi-Component Nanomaterials by Linking Functionality-Related Properties with Potential Safety Issues. Sustainability & Circularity NOW ; 0: a26255344.
DOI: 10.1055/a-2625-5344