Zheng Lina, Li Jialin, Huang Jing, Feng Wenting, Zhan Yuhan, Liu Dou
Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for Dust Control and Occupational Protection, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China.
School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Appl Spectrosc. 2025 Jan 8:37028241307258. doi: 10.1177/00037028241307258.
We present a near real-time measurement method that combines Raman and spark emission spectroscopy to quantitatively analyze the molecular structure of airborne single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), as well as detect toxic metals within CNTs. A corona-based aerosol microconcentrator was used for airborne CNTs sampling to enhance the measurement accuracy and sensitivity. The intensity of the characteristic Raman bands of CNTs and atomic emission lines of metals exhibited a linear relationship with the analyte mass, yielding high coefficient values. By carefully selecting appropriate signal peaks for calibration, we achieved a limit of detection (LOD) in terms of air concentration as low as 0.09 μg/m for SWCNT and 0.81 μg/m for MWCNT with a sampling time of 10 min. Additionally, our method exhibited excellent performance in measuring metals, with a mass LOD of 0.8-0.9 ng for Co and Ni and a mass LOD of 35.09 ng for Fe. The method performed well for the measurement of CNT and relevant metal composition with advantages of near real-time monitoring, low LOD, and portable use, making it a valuable tool for various applications in nanomaterial analysis.
