ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Quantification of airborne concentrations of micro-scale and submicron phosphors in the manufacturing environment by spectrofluorometric method

Fatih Deniz, Kadriye Ertekin, and Utku Ulucan

Program of Occupational Health and Safety, The Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, Buca, Turkey

E-mail: kadriye.ertekin@deu.edu.tr

Received: 20 March 2022  Accepted: 17 August 2022

Abstract:

In this work, micro-scale and submicron luminescent particles dispersed in the air were filtered and quantified by fluorescence spectroscopy. A well-known phosphor; lutetium aluminum garnet (LuAG: Ce³⁺) was chosen as the model particle due to its strong, measurable, and repeatable signal. Polymethylmethacrylate-based filters were fabricated by the electrospinning technique. Samples were collected through a vacuum pump from the laboratory environment during the grinding, weighing, transferring, washing, drying, and packaging of the phosphorus particles, at different time intervals. The intense emission peak of the LuAG: Ce³⁺ centered at 512 nm has been followed as the analytical signal to perform the quantification. The presented method was validated by the parameters of the calibration graph, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification, and stability. The LOD and working range of the method were found to be 0.7 mg/kg polymer and between 1.4 and 4.7 mg/kg polymer, respectively. ICP-MS approach was used as a cross-check tool for the calibration graphs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to measure the airborne concentrations of the luminescent phosphor particles and can easily be adapted for the quantification of other types of nanoscale-emitting particles in the relevant workplaces. Additionally, the offered design allows miniaturization since it is possible to excite the particles with cost-effective light-emitting diodes, integrate the system with fiber optics, and detection of the received optical response by photodiodes.

Keywords: Airborne dust concentration; Particle concentration; Fluorescence; Luminescence; Method development; Workplace hygiene

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-022-02440-5

Chemical Papers 76 (12) 7633–7646 (2022)