ED‐XRF set‐up for size‐segregated aerosol samples analysis |
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Authors: | Vera Bernardoni Eleonora Cuccia Giulia Calzolai Massimo Chiari Franco Lucarelli Dario Massabò Silvia Nava Paolo Prati Gianluigi Valli Roberta Vecchi |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Physics, Università degli Studi di Milano and INFN, 20133 Milano, Italy;2. Department of Physics, Università di Genova and INFN, 16146 Genova, Italy;3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università di Firenze and INFN, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy |
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Abstract: | The knowledge of size‐segregated elemental concentrations in atmospheric particulate matter (PM) gives a useful contribution to the complete chemical characterisation; this information can be obtained by sampling with multi‐stage cascade impactors. In this work, samples were collected using a low‐pressure 12‐stage Small Deposit Impactor and a 13‐stage rotating Micro Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor?. Both impactors collect the aerosol in an inhomogeneous geometry, which needs a special set‐up for X‐ray analysis. This work aims at setting up an energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (ED‐XRF) spectrometer to analyse quantitatively size‐segregated samples obtained by these impactors. The analysis of cascade impactor samples by ED‐XRF is not customary; therefore, as additional consistency test some samples were analysed also by particle‐induced X‐ray emission (PIXE), which is more frequently applied to size‐segregated samples characterised by small PM quantities. A very good agreement between ED‐XRF and PIXE results was obtained for all the detected elements in samples collected with both impactors. The good inter‐comparability proves that our methodology is reliable for analysing size‐segregated samples by ED‐XRF technique. The advantage of this approach is that ED‐XRF is cheaper, easier to use, and more widespread than PIXE, thus promoting an intensive use of multi‐stage impactors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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