DROPLET SIZE MEASUREMENTS OF VARIOUS NEBULIZERS USING DIFFERENTIAL ELECTRICAL MOBILITY PARTICLE SIZER

The Differential Electrical Mobility Particle Sizer (DMPS) was used to characterize the primary droplet size of pneumatic, electrospray, and thermospray nebulizers. Some of these nebulizers have been used to process liquid samples for analysis by mass spectrometry and atomic spectrometry. The nebulizer's primary droplet size and monodispersity may significantly affect the detection limits of these techniques. This study presents size distribution measurements of residue particles formed by drying the droplets from these nebulizers in the range of 10 to 1000 nm. Also, we studied the effect of liquid composition and liquid sample flow rate on the nebulizer's primary droplet size.