Determination of Composition in PM₁₀ Aerosols by High-Energy Polarized Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

In order to coordinate with X-ray Diffractomer (XRD) research on analyzing the crystal phase of inhaled aerosol PM₁₀ qualitatively and quantitatively, a method of using High-Energy Polarized Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (HE-P-EDXRF) was developed to quantitatively measure the major and minor elements in aerosol PM₁₀ collected on Whatman glass fiber filters. The study focused on the effect of the blank values of air filter membrane for the measurement compositions of aerosol PM₁₀. The results indicate that the standards with glass fiber membrane filter should be used as carriers if the elemental area density of the blank glass fiber filter is more than 0.1 μg/cm³, and the nuclepore polycarbonate aerosol membrane filter should be used if the elemental area density is less than 0.1 μg/cm³. The measurement of heavy trace elements using He-P-EDXRF was also investigated, and extended the scope of the measuring elements to 62. The detection limits of Na, Mg, S, Y, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu were more than 0.1 μg/m², the detection limits of Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br and Rb were less than 0.01 μg/m², and the detection limits of Cl, Al, Si, P, K, Sc, Ti, V, Ge, As, Br, Se, Sr, Zr, Mo, Pd, Rh, In, Nb, Ag, Cd, Te, Sb, Sn, Ba, Cs, La, Ce, Pr, Au, Pt, W, Tl, Pb, Bi, Th and U were 0.1-0.01 μg/cm².