Analysis of loaded filters by confocal micro-XRF

V. SBARATO; PEREZ, R.D.; C.A. PÉREZ; H. J. SÁNCHEZ

Análisis de materiales diversos por técnicas de rayos X.

Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla

Lugar: Puebla; Año: 2012; p. 126 - 129

The environmental quality has led an increased interest in the multielemental analysis of airborne particulate matter deposited on a suitable collection filter. The XRF analysis avoids any preliminary treatment of the sample, which can be available for further investigations. However, the generalapplicability of the method is limited because the spectral response is affected by matrix effects. The particulate matter penetrates to some extent into aerosol loaded filters, thus giving rise to a higher X-ray absorption in the filter, which must be taken into account for accurate results. In conventional XRF, an estimation of the particulate depth profile into the filter is required for a multielemental quantification. In the present paper, a quantitative analysis is performed by measuring the depth profile of the air particulate on aerosol loaded filters with confocal micro-XRF. The study was done on coated glass fiber filters of Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance – TEOM (Pallflex TX40).