AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Development and Evaluation of a Personal Sampler for Nanoparticle Exposure Assessment
JOHN VOLCKENS, Dan Miller-Lionberg, Anthony Marchese, Hank Lentz, Matt Zock, Kristin Bunker, Traci Lersch, John Mastovich, Gary Casuccio, Colorado State University
Abstract Number: 635 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract Global research involving nanotechnology revolves around the manipulation of size, shape, and compositionally tunable properties of engineered particles having at least one dimension in the sub-100 nm size range, and includes the development of new manufacturing techniques that utilize these nanostructures. Engineered nanoparticles possess unique properties that may present potential health risks to the workers who manufacture materials and products containing engineered nanoparticles, and to consumers who are directly or inadvertently exposed to engineered nanoparticles. Monitoring personal exposures to these engineered nanoparticles is necessary to evaluate potential health risks.
This work describes prototyping and testing of a personal, thermophoretic aerosol sampler designed to collect airborne nanoparticles in the breathing zone of individuals. The objective was to make the device small and lightweight so that it can be used as a personal sampler, and efficient at collecting airborne nanoparticles for subsequent quantification and identification of engineered nanoparticles using electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).
The design of the personal sampler incorporates the thermophoretic force generated from an applied temperature gradient, orthogonal to the aerosol flow, to separate particles from a moving airstream. By placing a transmission electron microscope (TEM) grid on the cold-plate side of the channel, particles can be collected upon media that can be placed directly in an electron microscope to allow measurement of size, shape, and elemental composition. The ability to perform electron microscopy directly on sampling media collected in the sampler eliminates the need for specialized sample preparation and allows for more efficient differentiation among engineered, biogenic (naturally produced) and incidental (anthropogenic, non-engineered, such as those from fossil-fuel combustion) nanoparticles. Results, including electron microscopy images and EDS spectra, will be presented from laboratory and field measurement programs. The particle concentration (particles/cc) results will be compared to direct-reading instruments.