To meet the demand for identifying and controlling toxic air contaminants in environmental justice communities, we have recently developed a cost-effective spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy (SIBS) instrument for detecting and quantifying toxic metal air pollutants. We characterized the detection limit and linearity of this SIBS instrument by analyzing nebulized elemental standard solutions. The experimental parameters affecting SIBS performance were optimized, including the time delay to observation, the distance between electrodes, and the ablation voltage. The instrument successfully detected Cr, Cu, Mn, Fe, Zn, Co, and Ni, with limits of detection ranged from 0.05 μg m⁻³ to 0.81 μg m⁻³ at a flow rate of 15 l min⁻¹ and a 30 min sampling duration. Similar to other investigations using ion breakdown spectroscopy, we did not observe strong emissions lines for As, Sb, Se, Hg, Pb, and Cd, which were likely due to spectral overlap, matrix effects, and the limited detection range of the optical components. Overall, SIBS is a promising technique for field measurements of toxic metals for environmental justice, industrial and urban applications.

为了满足环境正义社区识别和控制有毒空气污染物的需求，我们最近开发了一种经济高效的火花诱导击穿光谱（SIBS）仪器，用于检测和量化有毒金属空气污染物。我们通过分析雾化元素标准溶液来表征该 SIBS 仪器的检测限和线性度。优化了影响SIBS性能的实验参数，包括观察时间延迟、电极之间的距离和消融电压。该仪器成功检测了Cr、Cu、Mn、Fe、Zn、Co和Ni，在流速15 l min ⁻¹和30 min的条件下，检测限范围为0.05 μg m ⁻³至0.81 μg m ⁻³采样持续时间。与使用离子击穿光谱的其他研究类似，我们没有观察到 As、Sb、Se、Hg、Pb 和 Cd 的强发射线，这可能是由于光谱重叠、基体效应和光学组件的有限检测范围造成的。总体而言，SIBS 是一种有前景的有毒金属现场测量技术，可用于环境正义、工业和城市应用。