Environmental and toxicological assessment of nanodiamond-like materials derived from carbonaceous aerosols Nazrul Islam a,c , Anjum Dihingia b , Prasenjit Manna b , Tonkeswar Das a , Jatin Kalita b , H.P. Dekaboruah b , Binoy K. Saikia a,c, ⁎ a Polymer Petroleum and Coal Chemistry Group, Materials Science and Technology Division, CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat 785006, Assam, India b Biotechnology Group, Biological Science and Technology Division, CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat 785006, Assam, India c Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, CSIR-NEIST Campus, Jorhat 785006, India HIGHLIGHTS • We demonstrate the conversion of car- bonaceous aerosols to valuable nanodiamonds. • The nanodiamonds produced are bio- compatible and safe for bio-application. • Blue-fluorescence of NDs observed is excitation dependent. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 12 March 2019 Received in revised form 24 April 2019 Accepted 30 April 2019 Available online 02 May 2019 Editor: Pavlos Kassomenos Carbonaceous aerosols (CAs) are ubiquitous and among the most significant environmental materials found in am- bient air, mainly derived from anthropogenic sources (biomass burning, industrial activity, vehicle emissions, etc.). Elemental carbon (black carbon) and organic carbons are the major constituents of CAs. Due to their toxic effects, they are considered as high-risk compounds for human health. The key objective of the present work is to conduct a feasibility study for the conversion of CAs (TSP and PM 10 ) into a value-added carbon nanostructured product by using a chemical method. High resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–visible), fluorescence spectroscopy (FL), and Zeta potential analyses indicated the formation of carbon nanomaterials with crystalline phases, which exhibit the characteristics of nanodiamonds (NDs). The HR-TEM image analysis showed that the nominal size of the CAs-derived NDs ranged from 4 to 17 nm composed of mainly carbon and oxygen. The FT-IR and XPS analysis indicated that the NDs are highly functionalized with an oxygen-containing functional group. The CAs-derived NDs showed the property of blue-fluorescence with excitation dependent. In the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity study, the NDs obtained was observed to be biocompat- ible and suitable for bioimaging applications. This result provides a new avenue for the conversion of CAs to high- value products leading to the mitigation of atmospheric pollution. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Carbonaceous aerosols (CAs) Value addition Nanodiamonds (NDs) Cytotoxicity Genotoxicity Science of the Total Environment 679 (2019) 209–220 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Polymer Petroleum and Coal Chemistry Group, Materials Science and Technology Division, CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat 785006, Assam, India. E-mail address: bksaikia@neist.res.in (B.K. Saikia). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.446 0048-9697/© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv