EPA has taken a leadership role in planning research directions for the environmental applications and implications of nanotechnology - through its own research programs and participation in the interagency Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology subcommittee of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science and Technology Council.

EPA’s nanotechnology efforts conducted by the Office of Research and Development (ORD) include the following:

ORD’s National Center for Environmental Research, through the Science to Achieve Results program, EPA has funded 32 research grants for more than $11 million in the applications of nanotechnology to protect the environment including the following: development of low-cost, rapid, and simplified methods of removing toxic contaminants from surface water; new sensors that are more sensitive for measuring pollutants; green manufacturing of nanomaterials; and , more efficient, selective catalysts. At least one project is moving rapidly toward commercial application - zero-valent iron nanoparticles have been modified so that they can be used to reduce chlorinated organics in contaminated ground-water sites. http://www.epa.gov/ncer

Twelve recently selected research projects focus on studying the possible harmful effects of manufactured nanomaterials, i.e., toxicity, fate, transport and transformation, and exposure and bioaccumulation. A new research solicitation for 2005 was announced collaboration with two other federal agencies to study the health and environmental effects of manufactured nanomaterials.

Through its Small Business Innovation Research Program , EPA awarded contracts to over 20 small companies to develop and commercialize nanomaterials and clean technologies. Recently, an SBIR company demonstrated an activated carbon nanofiber filter with large surface area that more efficiently removes volatile organic compounds and particles smaller than 3 μm from engine exhaust, power generators, and indoor air.

A number of research projects in ORD laboratories are being conducted including the following: nanostructured photocatalysts as green alternatives to oxygenation of hydrocarbons; using nanomaterials as adsorbents, membranes and catalysts to control air pollution and emissions; and, the effects of ultrafine particulate matter that could help inform the research on manufactured nanomaterials.