Secondary ion mass spectrometry: The application in the analysis of atmospheric particulate matter

Atmospheric aerosols collected from each season in urban Beijing have been studied using time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS). The chemical composition of atmospheric aerosol particles during various atmospheric pollution levels was analyzed and distinguished by principal component analysis (PCA). The differences and sources of the components of the aerosol particles were explored. The results showed that the fine particulate matter from heavily polluted days mainly consists of inorganic salts and organic compounds, such as hydrocarbons, nitrogen‐ or sulfur‐containing hydrocarbons, and their oxides. Samples collected from clean days in the four seasons were also analyzed. Only the samples collected in spring showed a significant difference from the other three seasons. We concluded that the main source of pollution in the Beijing urban area was fossil fuel combustion from motor vehicles.

Section: Funding Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ToF‐SIMS analysis of chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols in Beijing

Jia

Che

et al. 2019

“…This technique is also capable of accurately detecting and mapping material compositions of the surface of an object . In recent years, it has been widely used in materials science, bio‐imaging, herbal medicines, and particulate matter . TOF‐SIMS is also applied in the field of geochemistry .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 In recent years, it has been widely used in materials science, bioimaging, herbal medicines, and particulate matter. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] TOF-SIMS is also applied in the field of geochemistry. [14][15][16][17] Temperature programmed desorption (TPD), which can distinguish between types of mercury based on the characteristic pyrolysis temperature of the specific mercury form, has been used to identify Hg compounds in soil contaminates, 18 sediment samples, 19 iron-based sorbents, 20 and gypsum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury forms and their transformation in pyrite under weathering

Cao

Qian

Liang

et al. 2020

Pyrite is considered to be the major carrier of mercury in coal. Here, the chemical characteristics of two natural pyrite samples of different weathering degrees were characterized by time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF‐SIMS). Thermal stability of Hg was also analyzed via temperature programmed desorption experiment (TPD). Characteristic ions such as S−, Fe+, FeS−, and FeS2− were detected on the surface of fresh pyrite. The release temperature of Hg ranged between 180°C and 300°C, and the characteristic peak of black HgS was recorded. In addition, abundant Fe2O3−, FeSO−, SO4−, and HSO4− were detected on the surface of weathered pyrite, and the release temperature of Hg therein was mainly distributed at 260°C to 380°C and 520°C to 600°C, corresponding to the characteristic peaks of red HgS and HgSO4, respectively. The results show that pyrite is acidified during weathering and that Hg forms in pyrite are transformed from the original state (HgS) to HgSO4.

“…During the past decades, the surface compositions of aerosol particles have been directly studied using several analysis techniques such as scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), 7 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), [7][8][9] time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] and near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. 26 Among these techniques, ToF-SIMS has been widely used to investigate the surface composition of aerosol particles in order to locate their emission sources and predict their potential impacts on human health and environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of pretreatment temperature on the analysis of size‐fractionated aerosol particles using ToF‐SIMS

Xie

Weng

et al. 2020

Size‐fractionated aerosol particles were collected with a MOUDI 10‐stage cascade impactor from an urban roadside place in a downtown area of Hong Kong. Fine aerosol particulate samples from stage 6 (aerodynamic particle diameter between 0.56 and 1 μm) and stage 9 (aerodynamic particle diameter between 0.10 and 0.18 μm) were pretreated at a chosen temperature, including −100°C, −50°C, 25°C, and 60°C, in a load lock chamber and then analyzed using time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS) at the same temperature (−100°C). Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to further analyze ToF‐SIMS spectra of aerosol particles with different pretreatment temperatures from two selected stages. ToF‐SIMS results showed that the intensities of aliphatic hydrocarbon ions such as C4H7+ and C4H9+ and amine ions such as C2H8N+ and C4H12N+ decreased with an increase of the pretreatment temperature under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. We have shown that analyses of this type of aerosol particles using ToF‐SIMS should not be conducted at ambient temperature but at low temperature (eg, −50°C). In addition, we also developed a procedure that can be used to analyze aerosol particle samples under ultrahigh vacuum environment.