Biophysics Department, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
Faculty of Physics, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 22;18(9):4454. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18094454.
Radon is pervasive in our environment and the second leading cause of lung cancer induction after smoking. Therefore, the measurement of radon activity concentrations in homes is important. The use of charcoal is an easy and cost-efficient method for this purpose, as radon can bind to charcoal via Van der Waals interaction. Admittedly, there are potential influencing factors during exposure that can distort the results and need to be investigated. Consequently, charcoal was exposed in a radon chamber at different parameters. Afterward, the activity of the radon decay products Pb and Bi was measured and extrapolated to the initial radon activity in the sample. After an exposure of 1 h, around 94% of the maximum value was attained and used as a limit for the subsequent exposure time. Charcoal was exposed at differing humidity ranging from 5 to 94%, but no influence on radon adsorption could be detected. If the samples were not sealed after exposure, radon desorbed with an effective half-life of around 31 h. There is also a strong dependence of radon uptake on the chemical structure of the recipient material, which is interesting for biological materials or diffusion barriers as this determines accumulation and transport.
氡在我们的环境中无处不在，是继吸烟之后导致肺癌的第二大主要原因。因此，测量家庭中的氡活度浓度很重要。为此，使用活性炭是一种简单且经济高效的方法，因为氡可以通过范德华相互作用与活性炭结合。诚然，在暴露过程中存在潜在的影响因素，可能会扭曲结果，需要进行调查。因此，在不同参数下将活性炭暴露在氡室中。之后，测量了氡衰变产物 Pb 和 Bi 的活度，并外推到样品中的初始氡活度。在暴露 1 小时后，达到了约 94%的最大值，并将其用作随后暴露时间的限制。活性炭在湿度从 5%到 94%的范围内进行暴露，但未检测到对氡吸附的影响。如果在暴露后未对样品进行密封，氡会以约 31 小时的有效半衰期解吸。氡的摄取还强烈依赖于受体材料的化学结构，这对于生物材料或扩散屏障很有趣，因为这决定了积累和运输。
