Morphology of black carbon aerosols and ubiquity of 50-nanometer black carbon aerosols in the atmosphere

• Published in: China particuology Vol. 4; no. 6; pp. 323 - 326
• Main Authors: Fu, Fengfu, Xu, Liangjun, Ye, Wei, Chen, Yiquan, Jiang, Mingyu, Xu, Xueqin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2006; Key Laboratory of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food-Safety, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002, China%Testing Center, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002, China%College of Tourism and Resource Management, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
• Subjects: aerosol; black carbon aerosols; elemental carbon aerosol; nanometer particle; SEM; black carbon aerosols; SEM; nanometer particle; elemental carbon aerosol; aerosol
• ISSN: 1672-2515
• DOI: 10.1016/S1672-2515(07)60283-8

Different-sized aerosols were collected by an Andersen air sampler to observe the detailed morphology of the black carbon (BC) aerosols which were separated chemically from the other accompanying aerosols, using a Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (SEM-EDX). The results indicate that most BC aerosols are spherical particles of about 50 nm in diameter and with a homogeneous surface. Results also show that these particles aggregate with other aerosols or with themselves to form larger agglomerates in the micrometer range. The shape of these 50-nm BC spherical particles was found to be very similar to that of BC particles released from petroleum-powered vehicular internal combustion engines. These spherical BC particles were shown to be different from the previously reported fullerenes found using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS).