THE PREPARATION OF AMBIENT AEROSOL FILTER CANDIDATE REFERENCE MATERIALS FOR ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS

Aerosol reference materials available today are discussed with respect to the requirements of X-ray analytical techniques. The lack of a proper reference material for this purpose, which would consist of real aerosol collected onto filter membranes, has to be ascertained. An aerosol sampling procedure is described, providing homogeneous aerosol deposits on filters large enough to be subdivided into filter pieces which could serve as units of a prospective reference material. The elemental uniformity of the dust deposits, assessed down to typical beam spot sizes of PIXE analysis, renders certification of such aerosol filters for elemental analysis feasible. An aerosol collection campaign has been started aiming at the production of candidate reference materials of three different aerosol matrices (urban, rural and marine) on cellulose nitrate and Nuclepore membrane filters.