Knowledge Base Materials : Sustainable science communication on advanced materials

Transparent and reliable communication of the safety of advanced and na-nomaterials is an issue that has become increasingly important in recent times. The German initiative DaNa got involved in this topic at an early stage. It is running the Knowledge Base Materials, a web-based information platform on nanomaterials (www.nanoobjects.info) for more than 10 years, which is constantly being expanded. Recently, due to emerging develop-ments in materials science, the focus has been expanded from nanomaterials to the variant-rich group of advanced materials, softening the restriction to particles below the 100 m size limit in one dimension to include larger par-ticles with more complex composition. For the Knowledge Base Materials, this broader scope presents a challenge for science communication. In this paper, the authors describe the selection of materials, the workflow, and the quality control that was performed to provide reliable knowledge about the safety of advanced materials to humans and the environment.