Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Numerous review articles have been published in the recent past covering
different aspects of atmospheric nanoparticles such as measurements, instrumenta-
tion, characteristics, health-exposure assessment and dispersion modelling. To our
knowledge, there is currently no review available which has specifically been
dedicated to assess the ambient concentrations of nanoparticles in European cities.
The aim of this chapter is to synthesise the existing knowledge on numerous aspects
(i.e. origin, characteristics and regulatory control) of atmospheric nanoparticles and
to highlight research gaps and future research priorities. An intensive review of
published studies is also conducted for making preliminary estimates of both
ambient and roadside concentrations of airborne PNCs at about different 45
locations in European cities, and assessing associated health impacts.
This chapter begins by summarising the recent review articles on this topic.
Other topics such as sources and physico-chemical characteristics of ambient and
emerging nanoparticles (i.e. ENPs) are then covered briefly for the completeness of
the article. This is then followed by the assessment of nanoparticles in numerous
European cities, estimation of respiratory deposition doses and a brief discussion on
current and future prospects of their regulatory control. In what follows, the terms
“airborne nanoparticle” and “ENP” refer to total particles, currently mainly pro-
duced by vehicles, and nanomaterials-derived products, respectively.
2 State-of-the-Art Summary of Recent Review Articles
This section provides a brief summary of recently published review articles on this
topic providing readers an opportunity to explore any individual topic in detail.
Vardoulakis et al. [
6
-
8
] summarised street scale modelling of gaseous and particu-
late matter and discussed the challenges, sensitivity and uncertainty associated with
them. Buseck and Adachi [
9
] discussed the nature of airborne nanoparticles,
instruments and techniques for characterising their physical and chemical
properties and their significance from the health and climate change perspective.
Measurements of airborne nanoparticles are generally made by using aerodynamic
and optical detection techniques. Detailed description of the operating principles of
optical, aerodynamic and electrical mobility analysers can be found in Flagan [
10
],
McMurry [
11
,
12
], and Simonet and Valc´rcel [
13
]. Biswas and Wu [
14
] presented
the life history of airborne ENPs from their formation to potential use and their
eventual fate in the environment. Nowack and Bucheli [
15
] presented a compre-
hensive review covering the occurrence, behaviour and effects of nanoparticles in
the environment. Ju-Nam and Lead [
16
] presented a widespread overview on the
chemistry, interactions and potential environmental implications associated with
ENPs. Later, Seigneur [
17
] focused on measurement techniques and ambient
measurements of the physico-chemical characteristics of ultrafine particles. They
also summarised some of the model studies on the evolution of particles in vehicle
exhaust plumes. Pey et al. [
18
] were one of the first ones to apply receptor
modelling tools to PNCs for apportioning the PNC sources and processes in the
