Issue 10, 2017

Assessment of exposure to airborne carbon nanotubes by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis of filter samples

Abstract

Exposure assessment is a key step in the evaluation of the risk induced by the handling of engineered nanomaterials. It is a very complex task, because several properties of nanoparticles are assumed to have an effect on their hazards. For exposure monitoring at the workplace, real-time onsite measurements are commonly implemented to measure the particles size and number density, whereas the sampled material is subsequently analysed by electron microscopy. A complementary approach would consist in doing onsite chemical analysis of the filter samples, in order to routinely monitor a potential chronic exposure. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has distinctive advantages for this purpose. Therefore, this work aims at evaluating the performances of LIBS to assess the exposure to airborne carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at the workplace. As carbon is a ubiquitous element in the environment, our strategy was to target metal impurities in CNTs, aluminum and iron in our case. Then, we proceeded in three steps. First, we optimized the choice of the filter type to get the lowest detection limit for both elements. Secondly, this filter was used to quantitatively measure deposited CNTs. Eventually, we conducted an onsite measurement campaign in an industrial CNT production plant to evaluate the exposure in a real situation. We demonstrated that we could reach a detection limit for CNTs compliant with the current NIOSH recommendation of 1 μg m−3, and that the detected CNTs during the onsite campaign in areas accessible to workers were at an extremely low concentration, several orders of magnitude lower than this recommendation.

Graphical abstract: Assessment of exposure to airborne carbon nanotubes by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis of filter samples

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 3月 2017
Accepted
15 8月 2017
First published
23 8月 2017

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2017,32, 1868-1877

Assessment of exposure to airborne carbon nanotubes by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis of filter samples

J.-B. Sirven, P. Dewalle, C. Quéré, V. Fauvet, M. Tabarant, S. Motellier, L. Golanski, A. Guiot, M. Amdaoud, S. Clavaguera, A. Roynette, S. Pontreau, F.-X. Ouf and F. Gensdarmes, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2017, 32, 1868 DOI: 10.1039/C7JA00121E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements