Development of a Pulsed-Field Differential Mobility Analyzer: A Method for Measuring Shape Parameters for Nonspherical Particles |
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| Authors: | Mingdong Li Rian You George W. Mulholland Michael R. Zachariah |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering , University of Maryland , College Park , Maryland , USA;2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , National Institute of Standards and Technology , Gaithersburg , Maryland , USA |
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| Abstract: | For a nonspherical particle, a standard differential mobility analyzer (DMA) measurement yields a mobility-equivalent spherical diameter, but provides no information about the degree of sphericity. However, given that the electrical mobility for nonspheres is orientation-dependent, and that orientation can be manipulated using electric fields of varying strength, one can, in principle, extract some type of shape information through a systematic measurement of mobility as a function of particle orientation. Here, we describe the development of a pulsed-field differential mobility analyzer (PFDMA) which enables one to change the peak E-field experienced by the particle to induce orientation, while still maintaining the same time-averaged field strength as a standard DMA experiment. The instrument is validated with polystyrene latex (PSL) spheres with accurately known size, and gold rods with dimensions accurately determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We demonstrate how the instrument can be used for particle separation and extraction of shape information. In particular, we show how one can extract both length and diameter information for rod-like particles. This generic approach can be used to obtain dynamic shape factors or other multivariate dimensional information (e.g., length and diameter). Copyright 2014 American Association for Aerosol Research |
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