Abstract
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) tend to form bundles due to their geometry and van der Walls forces, which usually complicates studies of the CNT properties. Dispersion plays a significant role in CNT studies and we summarize dispersion techniques to generate airborne CNTs from suspensions or powders. We describe in detail our technique of CNT aerosolization with controlled degree of agglomeration using an electrospray system. The results of animal inhalation studies using the electrosprayed CNTs are presented. We have performed filtration experiments for CNTs through a screen filter. A numerical model has been established to simulate the CNT filtration experiments. Both the modeling and experimental results show that the CNT penetration is less than the penetration for a sphere with the same mobility diameter, which is mainly due to the larger interception length of the CNTs. There is a need for instruments capable of fast and online measurement of gas-borne nanoparticle agglomerates. We developed an instrument Universal NanoParticle Analyzer (UNPA) and the measurement results for diesel exhaust particulates are presented. The results presented here are pertinent to non-spherical aerosol particles, and illustrate the effects of particle morphology on aerosol behaviors.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 69-76 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Chemical Engineering Science |
| Volume | 85 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 14 2013 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The work was partially supported by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant “Hazard Assessment and Risk Estimation of Inhaled Nanomaterials Exposure” #1RC2ES018741-01 (sub-grant 100029-D ) and by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant “Evaluation platform for safety and environmental risks of carbon nanotube reinforced nanocomposites” 406440_131286 .
Keywords
- Carbon nanotubes
- Diesel exhaust particles
- Electrospray
- Filtration
- Nanoparticle agglomerates
- Toxicity