Technical note: Characterization of polystyrene latex spheres 300 nm in diameter with a singularly narrow size distribution

Abstract

We have recently combined improved polystyrene latex (PSL) particle synthesis methods and new high resolution differential mobility analyzers (DMAs) covering the viral size range (up to about 300 nm) to demonstrate the availability of ∼200 nm PSL spheres with unusually narrow mobility distributions, with relative full width at half maximum (FWHM) as small as 1/60. By similar techniques we now report on the synthesis and analysis of PSL particles with diameters of about 300 nm achieving FWHM as small as 1/80. This is as narrow as the narrowest mobility peaks previously found with all but one of the viral particle so far studied with high resolution DMAs. The electrosprayed 300 nm particles produce two resolvable peaks, with the least mobile one being apparently an artifact of the electrospraying or charge reduction process. We conclude that future PSL synthesis improvements should be able to provide particles yielding mobility peaks with FWHM as small as 1/100.