Abstract
The health effects of suspended particulate matter (PM) in the air are well documented; however, there is a lack of convenient tools to recognize and quantify PM onsite. Here, we design and fabricate a portable PM analysis system to realize onsite aerosol particle analysis. The system contains a micromachined virtual impactor (VI), a thermophoretic deposition chip, and a smartphone-based portable imaging device. The silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) particles and polystyrene sphere (PLS) particles are used to verify the micro-sized VI with an accurate cut-off diameter of 2 μm (PM2). After separation, the fine particles are thermally deposited on a replaceable film. Then, a smartphone connected with a hand-held optical microscope is applied to directly image and analyze the deposited particles with the assistance of a self-developed Android application; thus, the size and distribution of the particles can be acquired immediately. The PM analysis device is successfully applied to analyze the particle content from a smoking cigarette as a real complex sample demonstration. Considering the compact integration of the particle separation, collection, detection, and analysis components, the reported PM analysis device is promising for point-of-need outdoor and indoor air quality monitoring.
Highlights
Particulate matter (PM) suspended in the atmosphere is harmful to human health
In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the development of portable devices or systems to provide onsite PM analysis including the particle size distribution [5], [6], The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Lusheng Zhai
INTEGRATION AND APPLICATION in order to manufacture a real portable particle analysis device for personal use, we developed a prototype system by integrating the PM separation chip, a minipump, needle valves, batteries and gas pipes in a resin box (10 cm × 7 cm × 11 cm) (Fig. 7A)
Summary
Particulate matter (PM) suspended in the atmosphere is harmful to human health. In particular, particles with diameters less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) are capable of penetrating deeply into respiratory systems and causing serious health problems, such as cardiorespiratory mortality [1] and cardiovascular disease [2]. The Stokes drag force of air was dominant when the inlet flow velocity increased for fine particles; their trajectories changed slowly.
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