TY - JOUR
T1 - Nanoscale characterization of PM 2.5 airborne pollutants reveals high adhesiveness and aggregation capability of soot particles
AU - Shi, Yuanyuan
AU - Ji, Yanfeng
AU - Sun, Hui
AU - Hui, Fei
AU - Hu, Jianchen
AU - Wu, Yaxi
AU - Fang, Jianlong
AU - Lin, Hao
AU - Wang, Jianxiang
AU - Duan, Huiling
AU - Lanza, Mario
N1 - Generated from Scopus record by KAUST IRTS on 2021-03-16
PY - 2015/7/16
Y1 - 2015/7/16
N2 - In 2012 air pollutants were responsible of seven million human death worldwide, and among them particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM 2.5) are the most hazardous because they are small enough to invade even the smallest airways and penetrate to the lungs. During the last decade the size, shape, composition, sources and effect of these particles on human health have been studied. However, the noxiousness of these particles not only relies on their chemical toxicity, but particle morphology and mechanical properties affect their thermodynamic behavior, which has notable impact on their biological activity. Therefore, correlating the physical, mechanical and chemical properties of PM 2.5 airborne pollutants should be the first step to characterize their interaction with other bodies but, unfortunately, such analysis has never been reported before. In this work, we present the first nanomechanical characterization of the most abundant and universal groups of PM 2.5 airborne pollutants and, by means of atomic force microscope (AFM) combined with other characterization tools, we observe that fluffy soot aggregates are the most sticky and unstable. Our experiments demonstrate that such particles show strong adhesiveness and aggregation, leading to a more diverse composition and compiling all possible toxic chemicals.
AB - In 2012 air pollutants were responsible of seven million human death worldwide, and among them particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM 2.5) are the most hazardous because they are small enough to invade even the smallest airways and penetrate to the lungs. During the last decade the size, shape, composition, sources and effect of these particles on human health have been studied. However, the noxiousness of these particles not only relies on their chemical toxicity, but particle morphology and mechanical properties affect their thermodynamic behavior, which has notable impact on their biological activity. Therefore, correlating the physical, mechanical and chemical properties of PM 2.5 airborne pollutants should be the first step to characterize their interaction with other bodies but, unfortunately, such analysis has never been reported before. In this work, we present the first nanomechanical characterization of the most abundant and universal groups of PM 2.5 airborne pollutants and, by means of atomic force microscope (AFM) combined with other characterization tools, we observe that fluffy soot aggregates are the most sticky and unstable. Our experiments demonstrate that such particles show strong adhesiveness and aggregation, leading to a more diverse composition and compiling all possible toxic chemicals.
UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/srep11232
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937140251&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/srep11232
DO - 10.1038/srep11232
M3 - Article
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 5
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
ER -