A Practical Guide on Coupling a Scanning Mobility Sizer and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (SMPS-ICPMS)

Abstract

A large variety of analytical methods are available to characterize particles in aerosols and suspensions. The choice of the appropriate technique depends on the properties to be determined. In many fields information about particle size and chemical composition are of great importance. While in aerosol techniques particle size distributions of gas-borne particles are determined online, their elemental composition is commonly analyzed offline after an appropriate sampling and preparation procedure. To obtain both types of information online and simultaneously, a hyphenated setup was recently developed, including a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) and an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICPMS). This allows first to classify the particles with respect to their mobility diameter, and then to determine their number concentration and elemental composition in parallel. A Rotating Disk Diluter (RDD) is used as the introduction system, giving more flexibility regarding the use of different aerosol sources. In this work, a practical guide is provided describing the different steps for establishing this instrumentation, and how to use this analysis tool. The versatility of this hyphenated technique is demonstrated in example measurements on three different aerosols generated out of a) a salt solution, b) a suspension, and c) emitted by a thermal process.

Emissions of Secondary Formed ZnO Nano-Objects from the Combustion of Impregnated Wood. An Online Size-Resolved Elemental Investigation

“…Figure (b) shows a particle-size-related ICP-MS intensity covering a 100–290 nm size range, with intensity more or less constant during the total time of analysis. The contribution of Zn in the overall PSD was efficiently resolved through the established correlation between ICP-MS and SMPS shown in previous works, even though the considerable amount of particles generated from wood treatment gives rise to a different PSD plot (Figure a). As shown in Figure c, the raw signal of the ICP-MS follows the size selection applied in the SMPS.…”

“…The experimental setup consisted of a tubular furnace, used as a lab-scale incinerator (Heraeus, RE 1.1), connected to the SMPS-ICP-MS, together with a rotating disk diluter (RDD) equipped with a heating tube as the introduction system. A detailed description of RDD-SMPS-ICP-MS coupling strategy and instruments specifications was already presented. , …”

“…A detailed description of RDD-SMPS-ICP-MS coupling strategy and instruments specifications was already presented. 17,25 Several mass flow controllers (MFC) were used to precisely adjust the flows. The different flows up-and downstream the tubular furnace were verified by a standard primary flow calibrator (Gilibrator-2, Sensidyne) at the beginning of every measurement.…”

“…In the current work, the behavior of ZnO during wood incineration has been investigated through the use of a recently developed online technique, namely SMPS-ICP-MS, using a rotating disk diluter (RDD) as the introduction system. , The analysis was focused on a size range between 14 and 300 nm. In the early 2000s, a known survey was published on the health impact of the average PM 2.5 (the particulate matter or particle pollution with a diameter of 2.5 μm or below), showing how particles in this size range have a direct connection with lung cancer and respiratory mortality .…”

Atomic Spectrometry Update – a review of advances in environmental analysis

“…The SMPS provides size distributions and concentrations of NPs in air with a temporal resolution of a few minutes or less. There is ongoing interest in the benefits of coupling the SMPS to ICP-MS systems for the generation of real-time elemental data so Swiss researchers provided 33 a practical guide, including video clips, to setting up such a system and its operation. Whereas radiochemical monitoring methods are slow and time consuming for the determination of radioactive 90 Sr released during nuclear power plants accidents, a ICP-MS/MS procedure for the determination of 90 Sr in airborne particles had 34 a run-time of only 10 minutes.…”