The Fresh Air Wristband: A Wearable Air Pollutant Sampler

Abstract

Evaluation of cumulative exposure to air pollutant mixtures has been challenged by traditional techniques due to the weight, limited battery life, and cost. The performance of a novel wearable air pollutant sampler, the Fresh Air wristband, to passively concentrate nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated. The Fresh Air Wristband consisted of a commercially-available triethanolaminecoated pad to collect NO 2 and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sorbent bar to sample VOCs and PAHs. Concentrations were measured off-line following the assessment period. The repeatability and rate of VOC and PAHs uptake by the PDMS sorbent bar was evaluated and the Fresh Air wristband was tested as exposure tool. The PDMS sorbent bar achieved reproducible uptake of from ambient air with uptake rates varying from 2 to 5 days across compounds. Higher molecular weight compounds (>180 g/mol) were well retained in the PDMS sorbent bar over multi-day periods. The Fresh Air wristband was demonstrated as a personal exposure tool; exposures of school-aged children were found to differ by sex, asthma status, home kitchen characteristics, and mode of travel to school. The lightweight, wearable Fresh Air wristband will enable future longitudinal air pollutant exposure assessment in vulnerable populations.

Clinical, Epidemiological and Experimental Approaches to Assess Adverse Health Outcomes of Indoor Biomass Smoke Exposure: Conclusions from An Indo-Swedish Workshop in Mysuru, January 2020

“…All these aspects are advantageous in large-scale field studies. There are several passive samplers on the market, one attractive example is the "Fresh Air Wristband", which contains a commercially available triethanolamine-coated pad to collect NO 2 and a polydimethylsiloxane sorbent bar to sample VOC and PAH [23]. Other passive NO 2 and VOC samplers include small badges and tubes impregnated with a certain solvent or adsorbent [24,25].…”

“…These are battery-operated instruments and therefore can be easily used in rural areas, where an availability of electricity is not continuous. When it comes to personal exposure assessment, the "Fresh Air Wristband" to sample mixtures of airborne contaminants is an alternative solution [23]. These samplers should preferably be worn near the collar bone (e.g., by using a magnet) to capture pollutants near the breathing zone.…”

“…It is extremely important to be aware of the composition of smoke to which the in vitro and in vivo models are exposed. To achieve this it was decided to assess the PAHs and VOCs of the wood smoke using polydimethylsiloxane sorbent bars used in "Fresh Air Wristbands" [23].…”

Optimized workflow for unknown screening using gas chromatography high‐resolution mass spectrometry expands identification of contaminants in silicone personal passive samplers

“…Silicone wristbands have become a popular noninvasive technique for assessing personal exposure to environmental organic contaminants in children 1–6 and adults 7–28 . The wristband samplers are generally worn for a 7‐day period to capture a wide range of chemicals that represent typical environmental exposures.…”

Developing a Low-Cost Passive Method for Long-Term Average Levels of Light-Absorbing Carbon Air Pollution in Polluted Indoor Environments

“…Passive sample collection can provide a low-cost alternative to active sample collection for broadly monitoring long-term average air pollution [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Available methods for monitoring LAC (e.g., thermal-optical methods (e.g., OC-EC aerosol analyzer), photo-acoustic methods (e.g., photo-acoustic soot spectrometer), real-time optical methods (e.g., aethalometer), and filter-based time-integrated average optical methods (e.g., smoke stain reflectometer; optical transmissometer)) use active sample collection (i.e., a pump to draw an air sample through a PTFE or quartz filter or through filter tape) and generally provide shorter-term (~hours) measurements [ 21 , 22 ].…”