[Investigation of Carbonaceous Airborne Particles by Scanning Proton Microprobe].

Carbonaceous particles are an important component of the atmospheric aerosol particles and important for global climate change, air quality and human health. The PM10 single particles from two environmental monitor locations and seven pollution emission sources were analyzed using scanning proton microprobe (SPM) techniques. The concentration of carbon in individual particles was quantitatively determined by proton non-Rutherford elastic backscattering spectrometry (EBS). The results of this investigation showed that carbonaceous particles were dominant in the pollution sources of coal and oil combustions, diesel busexhaust and automobile exhaust, while inorganic particles were dominant in the sources of steel industry, cement dust and soil dust. Carbonaceous matter was enriched in particles from the city center, while mineral matter was the main component of airborne particles in the industrial area. Elemental mapping of single aerosol particles yielded important information on the chemical reactions of aerosol particles. The micro-PIXE (particle induced X-ray emission) maps of S, Ca and Fe of individual carbonaceous particles showed that sulfuration reaction occurred between SO2and mineral particles, which increased the sulfur content of particles.

[Study on transition metals in airborne particulate matter in Shanghai city's subway].

PM10 and PM2.5 aerosol particle samples were collected at a subway station in Shanghai and their morphology, chemical composition and transition metal species were studied. The mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 inside the subway station were significantly higher than those measured in aboveground ambient air. The PM levels inside subway were much higher than the state control limit. The aerosol composition in the metro station was quite different from that of the aboveground urban particles. Concentrations of Fe, Mn and Cr were higher than the averages of aboveground urban air particles by factors of 8, 2, and 2, respectively, showing a substantial enrichment in subway. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed that the subway particles had flat surfaces in combination with parallel scratches and sharp edges and looked like metal sheets or flakes. Furthermore, analysis of the atomic composition of typical subway particles by energy dispersive X-Ray (EDX) spectroscopy showed that oxygen and iron dominated the mass of the particles. The X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy results showed that a fraction (> 26%) of the total iron in the PM10 was in the form of pure Fe, while in the street particles Fe(III) was shown to be a significant fraction of the total iron. The work demonstrated that the underground subway stations in Shanghai were an important microenvironment for exposure to transition metal aerosol for the people taking subway train for commuting every day and those who work in the subway stations, and the metal particle exposure for people in the subway station should not be ignored.

[Elemental size distribution of airborne fine and ultrafine particulate matters in the suburb of Shanghai, China].

The elemental size distributions of airborne fine/ultrafine particulate matters in the suburb of Shanghai were studied using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence. Median mass aerodynamic diameter (MMAD), elemental correlation coefficient as well as enrichment factor (EF) of each size fraction were calculated to characterize the sources of elements in fine/ultrafine particulate matters. Ca and Ti distributed mainly in coarse particles (> 2 microm) with size independent enrichment factors between 0.1 and 3.2, and the correlation coefficient between Ca and Ti was as high as 0.933, which implied strong contribution from nature sources, such as soil dusts and resuspended dusts. However, V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cl, S mainly distributed in 0.1-1.0 microm particulate matters with MMAD between 0.56-0.94 microm. The EF of V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb increased with decreasing particle size. The highest EF were found for Pb in ultrafine particulate matters (< 0.1 microm) with EF of 2,023.7-2,244.2. The evidences suggested that these elements were significantly influenced by anthropogenic sources and enriched in fine/ultrafine particles smaller than 1 microm. Fe distributed uniformly in the particles larger than 0.2 microm with MMAD of 1.3 microm. The results indicated non-negligible influences of remote transmission of anthropogenic pollutions.

[Bioindicating function of sulfur in Haplocladium under heavy metals pollution by SRXRF and XANES].

Haplocladium was cultivated in a special prepared nutrient medium containing different concentrations of Pb, Fe and Cr in laboratory. The sulfur content in moss was measured by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF), and the percentage of various oxidation states of sulfur was analyzed by X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectrum. The results show that the sulfur absorption increases under exposure to heavy metal ions of Pb and Fe, but it decreases under exposure to 400 mg/L Pb and 200 mg/L Fe. When Haplocladium was cultivated for 15 days, under the stress of 100 mg/L Pb, the relative content of low oxidation states sulfur increases from 17.8% to 23.6% and the sulfate sulfur decreases from 56.3% to 51.2%. Under the stress of 400 mg/L Pb, the relative content of low oxidation state sulfur increases from 17.8% to 24.8%, and the sulfate sulfur decreases from 56.3% to 48.4%. Under heavy metal exposure, the total relative content of low oxidation states sulfur such as cystine, cysteine, methionine and glutathione increases, and the relative content of sulfate sulfur apparently decreases. All these results indicate that the changing characteristics of sulfur content and oxidation states percentage in sulfur assimilation process under heavy metal exposure can be used as a bioindicator of heavy metal pollution.