We highlight that the composition dependence of the counting efficiency of condensation particle counters can be immensely reduced by choice of the working fluid. A butanol- and a propylene glycol-based version of the Airmodus A30 was calibrated using a set of four different seed particles. Our study shows that composition-dependent counting efficiencies almost vanish in the case of the propylene glycol-based CPC. Simulations of supersaturation profiles were used to explain the results.

This study addresses challenges in semivolatile organic compound (SVOC) aerosol sampling. Despite its promise, experimental evaluations of the semivolatile aerosol dichotomous sampler (SADS) reveal issues with leakiness, assembly repeatability, and significant wall losses for particles larger than 2 µm. Findings suggest the need for improvements in airtightness, nozzle alignment, and assembly repeatability for the SADS to fulfil its theoretical potential in workplace exposure assessments.

In this study, we explored how tiny particles in the air, known as aerosols, have changed over time in two mountainous areas in Austria and Switzerland from 2007 to 2023. By using special instruments that measure sunlight, we tracked these changes and found that the amount of aerosols has been decreasing in both locations. This is important because aerosols can affect both our health and the climate. This work is crucial for understanding air quality trends in mountain environments.

Our study presents a novel method for quantifying mass spectrometer responses to molecular species in organic aerosols. Traditional calibrations often fail for complex mixtures like secondary organic aerosol. We combined chromatography with statistical component analysis to improve separation and quantification, achieving promising agreement with direct calibration. Our findings offer a new approach to assess aerosol composition, especially beneficial for complex mixtures.

Differential mobility analyzers (DMAs) are widely used to measure aerosol size distributions. Here we argue that DMAs operating steadily at unusually high flow rates are not as complex as they appear and could be used with considerable advantage in many measurements currently carried out in conventional DMAs. We hope that the considerations presented will encourage DMA manufacturers to develop high-flow DMAs far more versatile yet comparable in complexity to today’s mainstream instruments.

We present a novel version of an aerosol number size distribution instrument, showcasing its capability to measure particle number concentration and particle number size distribution between 1 and 12 nm. Our results show that the instrument agrees well with existing instrumentation and allows for both the accurate measurement of the smallest particles and overlap with more conventional aerosol number size distribution instruments.

The performance of the handheld Partector Pro has been evaluated against a reference mobility particle size spectrometer (MPSS) for 70 days at an urban background site. The number concentrations measured with the Partector Pro were in excellent and the number size distributions in reasonable agreement with the MPSS. The Partector Pro is thus a promising candidate for the widespread measurement of ultrafine particle concentrations as, for example, requested by WHO, at reasonable costs.

Ultra-fine airborne carbon particles affect climate and health, but measuring them poses many challenges. This paper presents an innovative device called FATCAT that enables unattended and continuous measurement of these particles over extended periods of time. We detail FATCAT's performance, demonstrate its compatibility with established methods and introduce the unique feature of fast thermograms, a novel approach to further understand real-world samples containing carbonaceous particles.

In remote environments, atmospheric amines are involved in new particle formation processes. In anthropized areas, they readily react to form secondary aerosol. These particles may have relevant environmental (climate) and health effects. Together with instrumental techniques for the on-line determination of these compounds (PTR-MS, AMS), the development of simple methods for their accurate quantification represents a scientific target aimed at by obtaining more significant environmental data.

The aerosol number concentration is essential information for aerosol science. A condensation particle counter (CPC) can robustly provide this information. Butanol is often used as a working fluid in a CPC. We could show that dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) behaves equivalently to butanol in terms of the instrument`s counting efficiency, cut-off diameter and concentration linearity. We tested this on different aerosols, including sodium chloride, ammonium sulfate and fresh combustion soot.