Abstract BioSampler is now being widely used for bioaerosol sampling. However, the sampling efficiency in wide size range especially for nanoparticles as well as the size-dependent retention efficiency have not been well evaluated until now. Through literature review, theoretic analysis and experiments, this paper reviews the sampling process, collection mechanism and sampling performance of commercial BioSampler including pressure drop as a function of sampling flow rate, the mass loss rate and temperature of the collection fluid as a function of sampling time, the variation of retention efficiency with time, and the sampling efficiency in wide size range from nanometers to microns. The effects of low pressure and high relative humidity on determination of sampling efficiency in literature were carefully analyzed. To compensate the collection fluid loss and extract the insoluble/dissolved sample for further analysis, Continuous-Extraction BioSampler (CEBS) is proposed. The retention efficiency for particles of different sizes as well as the collection efficiency were determined and found to be identical with commercial BioSampler when no steam was introduced into CEBS. Finally, the combination uses of CEBS and Inductively-Coupled-Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) was developed. Exponentially Modified Gaussian (EMG) Model was derived and verified to describe the temporal concentration of the dissolved component originating from individual soluble droplet. Using internal standard calibration method and EMG fitting of signal curve, the target element amount in individual droplet could be determined accurately. For continuously-collected soluble droplet with duration of minutes, the observed signal curve can be described by EMG model and the fitted value of area varies linearly with the sample amount introduced. This paper not only provides comprehensive performance evaluation of commercial BioSampler, but also demonstrates that the proposed CEBS-ICPMS is capable of monitoring environmental coarse aerosol with time resolution of ~17 min.

中文翻译：

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BioSampler 的重新评估及其对环境粗气溶胶在线时间分辨监测的改进

摘要 BioSampler 目前被广泛用于生物气溶胶采样。然而，直到现在还没有很好地评估宽尺寸范围内的采样效率，特别是对于纳米颗粒以及尺寸相关的保留效率。本文通过文献综述、理论分析和实验，综述了商用BioSampler的采样过程、采集机理和采样性能，包括作为采样流量函数的压降、作为采样函数的采集流体的质量损失率和温度。时间，保留效率随时间的变化，以及从纳米到微米的宽尺寸范围的采样效率。仔细分析了文献中低压和高相对湿度对测定采样效率的影响。为了补偿收集液损失并提取不溶/溶解样品以进行进一步分析，提出了连续提取生物取样器 (CEBS)。当没有蒸汽被引入 CEBS 时，不同尺寸的颗粒的保留效率以及收集效率被确定并发现与商业 BioSampler 相同。最后，开发了 CEBS 和电感耦合等离子体质谱仪 (ICP-MS) 的组合使用。导出并验证指数修正高斯 (EMG) 模型以描述源自单个可溶液滴的溶解组分的时间浓度。使用内标校准法和信号曲线的EMG拟合，可以准确地确定单个液滴中的目标元素量。对于持续时间为分钟的连续收集的可溶性液滴，观察到的信号曲线可以用 EMG 模型描述，面积的拟合值随引入的样品量线性变化。本文不仅提供了商业 BioSampler 的综合性能评估，而且还证明了所提出的 CEBS-ICPMS 能够以~17 分钟的时间分辨率监测环境粗气溶胶。