Research strategy to determine when novel nanohybrids pose unique environmental risks

The production and use of increasingly complex hierarchical multifunctional ensembles of nanomaterials introduces emergent properties that will likely lead to uncertainty in the environmental health and safety (EHS) evaluation of nanohybrids (NHs). This perspective proposes principles to identify NHs with novel properties relevant to nano EHS research, and discusses specific challenges for EHS research on these materials. We propose a strategy for focusing nano EHS research efforts on relevant NH systems.