Metallic nickel nanoparticles and their effect on the embryonic development of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

The presence of nanoparticles in many industrial applications and daily products is making it nowadays crucial to assess their impact when exposed to the environment. Metallic nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs) are of high industrial interest due to their ability to catalyze the reversible hydration of CO2 to carbonic acid at ambient conditions. We characterized metallic Ni NPs by XRD, HRTEM and EDS and determined the solubility of free nickel ions from 3 mg/L metallic Ni NPs in seawater by ICP-MS over 96 h, which was below 3%. Further, embryonic development of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus was investigated for 48 h in the presence of metallic Ni NPs (0.03 mg/L to 3 mg/L), but no lethal effects were observed. However, 3 mg/L metallic Ni NPs caused a size reduction similar to 1.2 mg/L NiCl2*6 H2O. The obtained results contribute to current studies on metallic Ni NPs and point to their consequences for the marine ecosystem.