Elemental analysis of single ambient aerosol particles using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Abstract

Analysing the composition of aerosol particles is essential when studying their health effects, sources and atmospheric impacts. In many environments the relevant particles occur in very low concentrations, meaning that their analysis requires efficient single particle techniques. Here we introduce a novel method to analyse the elemental composition of single aerosol particles sampled directly from the aerosol phase using size amplification aided aerosol charging (SAAC), linear electrodynamic quadrupole (LEQ) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. We present results of the charging and focusing efficiencies of the SAAC and of the LEQ, and a proof-of-concept of the analysis method. The proof-of-concept test series was conducted with particle diameters down to 300 nm, sampled directly from the aerosol phase. The method shows unprecedented performance for spectroscopic submicron particle analysis from arbitrarily low concentrations and has exceptional potential for a portable analysis platform for various applications in the field of aerosol research.

Individual Micron-Sized Aerosol Qualitative Analysis-Combined Raman Spectroscopy and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy by Optical Trapping in Air

“…Although single-particle mass spectrometry can obtain the component information of a single aerosol, it cannot be applied to rapid analysis scenarios . The fluorescence spectrum can give the molecular composition of a single particle, but there are wide envelope peaks and low resolution, resulting in a high false alarm rate during the analysis. , Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is generally regarded as a general in situ analysis technique which is widely used in Mars exploration, carbon sequestration leakage, halogen, isotope detection, and other situations. − However, as a typical atomic emission spectroscopy technique, the LIBS technique can only detect the elemental information of substances, but it cannot obtain molecular structure information. Raman spectroscopy is a molecular vibrational spectroscopy technology with nondestructive online detection, which can make up for the deficiency that LIBS only contains material element information .…”

Hydrogen isotope analysis in W-tiles using fs-LIBS

“…The use of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) has been proposed 4 , as it has also numerous applications in hands-off, low invasive diagnostics like nuclear waste management 5 or material analysis in current and upcoming mars missions 6 . Especially, when it comes to the detection of minor elements and high depth resolution applications, LIBS appears as a powerful tool [7][8][9] . One requirement for a quantitative LIBS method is a reduced heat diffusion to the bulk material by the laser pulses so that stoichometric approximations might hold, when the expanding plasma is analyzed.…”