Effects of dilution on the properties of nC60

C60 forms colloidally stable nanoparticles (nC60) via extended mixing or solvent exchange. Many studies on the environmental impacts of nC60 use aliquots from a large batch of nC60 suspension and either dilute them or subject them to other modifications under the assumption that the properties of the parent suspension remain stable over time and are unaltered by these manipulations. In the present study, nC60 produced via stirring in the presence of sodium citrate (cit/nC60) was characterized with respect to particle size, surface charge, and morphology following dilution. Counter-intuitively, the results show that the colloidal properties of diluted cit/nC60 are not fixed despite constant solution chemistry and are dependent upon the ratios of [C60] to [Na+] and [citrate]. In some cases, diluted nC60 had significantly different morphology. This study suggests that any experiment involving modifications of stock nC60 suspensions must take the altered colloidal properties of the diluted nC60 into consideration.