Development of a new radial passive sampling device for atmospheric NOx determination

Oriana Motta; Raffaele Cucciniello; Rosa La Femina; Concetta Pironti; Antonio Proto

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2018.07.088

Development of a new radial passive sampling device for atmospheric NO_x determination

Talanta. 2018 Dec 1:190:199-203. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.07.088. Epub 2018 Aug 1.

Authors

Oriana Motta¹, Raffaele Cucciniello², Rosa La Femina³, Concetta Pironti³, Antonio Proto³

Affiliations

¹ Dipartimento di Medicina Chirurgia e Odontoiatria "Scuola Medica Salernitana", Università degli Studi di Salerno, via Salvatore Allende, 84081 Baronissi, SA, Italy.
² Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, via Giovanni Paolo II, 132-84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy. Electronic address: rcucciniello@unisa.it.
³ Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, via Giovanni Paolo II, 132-84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy.

PMID: 30172499
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.07.088

Abstract

In this paper we used Na₂CO₃-impregnated silica as reactive substrate for the determination of atmospheric NO_x (NO+NO₂) by using a passive sampling device, with radial symmetry, which is unprecedented. We conducted laboratory and field tests at an urban setting, with co-located passive samplers and continuous measurements of NO_x by a chemiluminescence detector, used as reference. The performance of the carbonate-based sorbent for the NO_x sampler was evaluated in two different time frames (autumn 2016 and winter 2017), characterised by different environmental conditions. The comparison of the NO_x concentration levels measured by passive sampling, using Na₂CO₃ as NO_x sorbent, showed a close relationship with those obtained by the chemiluminescence analyzer. Validation experiments in the laboratory and in the field are reported together with the calculation of the diffusion-sampling rate of the samplers.

Keywords: Chemiluminescence; NO(x); Passive sampling; Radial symmetry; Sodium carbonate.