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Real-time organic aerosol chemical speciation in the indoor environment using extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Real-time organic aerosol chemical speciation in the indoor environment using extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

INDOOR AIR, v 31(1), pp 141-155
Jan 2021
PMID: 32696534
url
https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12721View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Understanding the sources and composition of organic aerosol (OA) in indoor environments requires rapid measurements, since many emissions and processes have short timescales. However, real-time molecular-level OA measurements have not been reported indoors. Here, we present quantitative measurements, at a time resolution of five seconds, of molecular ions corresponding to diverse aerosol-phase species, by applying extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EESI-MS) to indoor air analysis for the first time, as part of the highly instrumented HOMEChem field study. We demonstrate how the complex spectra of EESI-MS are screened in order to extract chemical information and investigate the possibility of interference from gas-phase semivolatile species. During experiments that simulated the Thanksgiving US holiday meal preparation, EESI-MS quantified multiple species, including fatty acids, carbohydrates, siloxanes, and phthalates. Intercomparisons with Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer suggest that EESI-MS quantified a large fraction of OA. Comparisons with FIGAERO-CIMS shows similar signal levels and good correlation, with a range of 100 for the relative sensitivities. Comparisons with SV-TAG for phthalates and with SV-TAG and AMS for total siloxanes also show strong correlation. EESI-MS observations can be used with gas-phase measurements to identify co-emitted gas- and aerosol-phase species, and this is demonstrated using complementary gas-phase PTR-MS observations.

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40 citations in Scopus

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Collaboration types
Industry collaboration
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Construction & Building Technology
Engineering, Environmental
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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