Application of ion chromatography to the determination of water-soluble inorganic and organic ions in atmospheric aerosols

Article type: Research Article

Authors: YU, Xue-chun | HE, Ke-bin | MA, Yong-liang | YANG, Fu-mo | DUAN, Feng-kui | ZHENG, Ai-hua | ZHAO, Cheng-yi

Affiliations: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China | Analytical and Testing Center, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Note: [] Corrsesponding author. E-mail: hekb@tsinghua.edu.cn

Abstract: A simple, sensitive and convenient ion chromatography (IC) method was established for the simultaneous determination of twelve water-soluble inorganic ions (F^-, Cl^-, NO_2^-, NO_3^-, SO_3^{2-}, SO_4^{2-}, PO_4^{3-}, Na^+, NH_4^+, K^+, Mg^{2+}) and sixteen water-soluble organic ions (formate, acetate, MSA, oxalate, malonate, succinate, phthalates, etc.) in atmospheric aerosols. The linear concentrations ranged from 0.005 μg/m^3 to 500 μ/m^3 (r = 0.999–0.9999). The relative standard deviation (RSD) were 0.43%–2.00% and the detection limits were from 2.7 ng/m^3 to 88 ng/m^3. The proposed method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of those inorganic ions and organic ions in PM_{2.5} of Beijing.

Keywords: ion chromatography, water-soluble ions, aerosols, Beijing

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 813-815, 2004