Speciation of Individual Mineral Particles of Micrometer Size by the Combined Use of Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform-Infrared Imaging and Quantitative Energy-Dispersive Electron Probe X-ray Microanalysis Techniques

Abstract

Our previous work demonstrated for the first time the potential of the combined use of two techniques, attenuated total reflectance FT-IR (ATR-FT-IR) imaging and a quantitative energy-dispersive electron probe X-ray microanalysis, low-Z particle EPMA, for the characterization of individual aerosol particles. In this work, the speciation of mineral particles was performed on a single particle level for 24 mineral samples, including kaolinite, montmorillonite, vermiculite, talc, quartz, feldspar, calcite, gypsum, and apatite, by the combined use of ATR-FT-IR imaging and low-Z particle EPMA techniques. These two single particle analytical techniques provide complementary information, the ATR-FT-IR imaging on mineral types and low-Z particle EPMA on the morphology and elemental concentrations, on the same individual particles. This work demonstrates that the combined use of the two single particle analytical techniques can powerfully characterize externally heterogeneous mineral particle samples in detail and has great potential for the characterization of airborne mineral dust particles.

Investigation of aged aerosols in size-resolved Asian dust storm particles transported from Beijing, China, to Incheon, Korea, using low-<i>Z</i> particle EPMA

“…They exist in many different forms, including Na-feldspar, Kfeldspar, muscovite, montmorillonite, illite, Mg-vermiculite, kaolinite, talc, pyrophyllite, etc. (Jung et al, 2010;Malek et al, 2011). Most of them belong to clay mineral.…”

Investigation of aged Asian dust particles by the combined use of quantitative ED-EPMA and ATR-FTIR imaging

“…In many cases, airborne particles are internal mixtures of two or more chemical species, for which X-ray analysis is even more difficult. Recently, our group reported that various types of individual airborne particles could be identified clearly by the combined use of low-Z particle EPMA and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) imaging, where both the elemental chemical composition and molecular species of the same individual particles can be obtained from their X-ray and ATR-FTIR spectral data (Jung et al, 2010;Malek et al, 2011). Low-Z particle EPMA and ATR-FTIR imaging can provide complementary information on their morphology and elemental concentrations, as well as their molecular species, functional groups, crystal structure, and physical phase of the same individual particles, respectively.…”

“…Low-Z particle EPMA and ATR-FTIR imaging can provide complementary information on their morphology and elemental concentrations, as well as their molecular species, functional groups, crystal structure, and physical phase of the same individual particles, respectively. The combined use of these two techniques resulted in a better understanding of the physicochemical characteristics of individual mineral, aged sea salt, and secondary aerosol particles than when the techniques were used alone (Jung et al, 2010;. In this study, an Asian dust sample collected on 11 November 2002 was examined again to obtain detailed physicochemical characteristics of the aged Asian dust particles, which experienced extensive chemical modification during long-range transport, by the combined application of low-Z particle EPMA and ATR-FTIR imaging.…”

“…Spectral data processing was performed using Perkin Elmer Spectrum IMAGE software, where the images were corrected for atmospheric effects and the spectral information at each pixel was extracted by principal component analysis (PCA). A more detailed description of ATR-FTIR imaging can be found elsewhere (Jung et al, 2010;Malek et al, 2011). Figure 1 shows the secondary electron image (SEI) obtained before the ATR-FTIR imaging measurements (Fig.…”

Application of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the mineralogical study of a landslide area, Hungary

“…Note, however, that band positions could be slightly or considerably shifted from reported band wave numbers obtained by both TIR and ATR techniques (Wada, 1967;Farmer, 1974;Van der Marel and Beutelspacher, 1976;Hlavay et al, 1978;Madejová and Komadel, 2001;Schroeder, 2002;Vaculícová and Plevová, 2005;Jung et al, 2010) due to the different infrared methods (i.e., TIR, DRIFT, ATR FTIR), sample preparation (pressed pellet or powder sample), changing chemistry of minerals (i.e., Mg incorporation in calcite; different cation occupancy in layers and interlayers of smectite etc.) and anisotropy of infrared absorption (in which certain indicatrix section(s) may become dominant during analysis).…”