PNNL

Abstract

The properties of aerosols depend on the size and internal compositions of the individual particles. The vast majority of atmospheric aerosols are smaller than 200 nm, yet the single particle mass spectrometers, the only instruments that can characterize the size and internal compositions of individual particles, typically detect these small particles with extremely low efficiencies. In this paper we describe a new instrument called SPLAT II that provides unparalleled sensitivity to small particles, detecting 100% of particles that are larger than 125 nm and 40% of 100 nm particles. This instrument also brings an increase by a factor of 10 in temporal resolution, sizing up to 500 particles per second and characterizing the composition of up to 100 of them. SPLAT II uses a two-laser, two-step process to evaporate the particles and generate ions, producing high quality, reproducible mass spectra of the refractive and non-refractive aerosol fractions to yield the complete compositions of individual particles. The instrument control board provides for size dependent delays for lasers’ triggers to eliminate a size dependent hit rate. The mass spectra are recorded with 14-bit vertical resolution and analyzed using custom software packages. The instrument’s high sizing resolution and sensitivity makes it possible to combine it with the differential mobility analyzer(s) and measure particle size, composition, density, dynamic shape factor, hygroscopicity, and fractal dimension.