Articles | Volume 12, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1659-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1659-2019
Research article
 | 
14 Mar 2019
Research article |  | 14 Mar 2019

Ultrasonic nebulization for the elemental analysis of microgram-level samples with offline aerosol mass spectrometry

Rachel E. O'Brien, Kelsey J. Ridley, Manjula R. Canagaratna, John T. Jayne, Philip L. Croteau, Douglas R. Worsnop, Sri Hapsari Budisulistiorini, Jason D. Surratt, Christopher L. Follett, Daniel J. Repeta, and Jesse H. Kroll

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Cited articles

Aiken, A. C., DeCarlo, P. F., and Jimenez, J. L.: Elemental analysis of organic species with electron ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry, Anal. Chem., 79, 8350–8358, https://doi.org/10.1021/ac071150w, 2007. 
Becker, J. W., Berube, P. M., Follett, C. L., Waterbury, J. B., Chisholm, S. W., Delong, E. F., Repeta, D. J., and Metz, T.: Closely related phytoplankton species produce similar suites of dissolved organic matter, Front. Microbiol., 5, 1–14, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00111, 2014. 
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Bozzetti, C., Sosedova, Y., Xiao, M., Daellenbach, K. R., Ulevicius, V., Dudoitis, V., Mordas, G., Bycenkiene, S., Plauškaite, K., Vlachou, A., Golly, B., Chazeau, B., Besombes, J.-L., Baltensperger, U., Jaffrezo, J.-L., Slowik, J. G., El Haddad, I., and Prévôt, A. S. H.: Argon offline-AMS source apportionment of organic aerosol over yearly cycles for an urban, rural, and marine site in northern Europe, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 117–141, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-117-2017, 2017. 
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Short summary
Analysis of the elemental composition of organic mixtures can provide insights into the sources and aging of environmental samples. Here we describe a method that allows characterization of this type of material using micrograms of material by a combination of a small-volume ultrasonic nebulizer and an aerosol mass spectrometer. This technique enables rapid analysis of complex organic mixtures using approximately an order of magnitude less sample than standard analyses.
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