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Measurement Methods for Nanoparticles in Indoor and Outdoor Air

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Indoor and Outdoor Nanoparticles

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 48))

Abstract

A large variety of measurement methods for the characterization of airborne nanoparticles in indoor or outdoor air exist. The choice of an appropriate method depends strongly on the questions to be tackled. If the aerosol is to be characterized only for a single location, one may use stationary equipment that is rather bulky but provides the most details and is most accurate. Spatially resolved measurements can only be conducted with portable or personal measurement equipment which provide a limited dataset with lower accuracy. Furthermore, the metrics to be measured (e.g., number, surface area of mass concentration, chemical composition, etc.) determine the choice of measurement methods as no single method can do it all. Another determining factor is the time resolution of the instruments. While direct-reading monitors deliver the information with high time resolution (often 1 s) and hence allow for linking the measured concentration to certain activities, samplers collect the particles for subsequent analyses and therefore provide an average over the sampling time. Consequently, the choice of a measurement instrument for the characterization of airborne nanoparticles remains a compromise. In many practical applications, the combination of different techniques may be required.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Energie- und Umwelttechnik e. V. (IUTA), Air Quality and Filtration Unit, Bliersheimer Straße 58-60, 47229, Duisburg, Germany

    Christof Asbach & Ana Maria Todea

  2. NanoSafety Platform, Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, 38054, France

    Simon Clavaguera

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  1. Christof Asbach
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  2. Simon Clavaguera
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  3. Ana Maria Todea
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Correspondence to Christof Asbach .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain

    Mar Viana

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Asbach, C., Clavaguera, S., Todea, A.M. (2015). Measurement Methods for Nanoparticles in Indoor and Outdoor Air. In: Viana, M. (eds) Indoor and Outdoor Nanoparticles. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 48. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2015_423

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