Field test of an enhanced LIPS to direct‐monitor the elemental composition of particulate matters in polluted air

• DOI: 10.1002/mop.33542
• Publication Date: 2022-11-17T03:30:46Z
• Authors: Gao Zhixing; Hu Fengming; He Hongyu; Li Jing; Cui Daqing; Gao Jian; Wang Zhao
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 11. Sustainability; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

AbstractLaser‐induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS, also LIBS) is a promising technique for the challenging issues associated with the real time and in‐situ monitoring of the elements in aerosol particulate matter. A prototype of Aero‐LIPS had been set up with the techniques of aerosol beam focusing, enhanced plasma emission collector, and conditional data filter to demonstrate the potential application of air pollution composition monitoring. It can identify more than 40 elements from aerosols and continuously monitor 20 elements with a time interval of 10 min. In the field test of an Asian dust event, the major elements, such as Ca, Mg, Al, Si, Cl, P, and S, were real‐time monitored, which weighted 77.9% part of the particulate matter. The evolutions of temporal elemental concentrations went well along with the particle matter concentration. In the test, several persistent lines of U and Th have been identified from dusted air, although their concentrations range in the level of nano‐grams per cubic meter. Further work is ongoing to directly determine the detection limit of U and Th to confirm the potential application for nuclear emission safeguard.