US EPA

2601908 

Journal Article 

Evaluation of Uncertainty in Nanoparticle Size Measurement by Electro-gravitational Aerosol Balance 

Lin, CMin; Yu, TaC; Pan, SP; Weng, HanFu; Chen, CJ 

2009 

338-341 

WOS:000273296000092 

This paper presents the measurement results and the uncertainty analysis for two batches of polystyrene latex (PSL) spheres with nominal sizes of 100 nm and 500 nm using the measurement system which electro-gravitational aerosol balance (EAB) method is applied. In the measurement system, charged particles are introduced into the space between horizontally placed planar electrodes. The evaluation of the number of survived particles after a short period of time can lead to determine the particle mass according to the balance between the electrostatic and gravitational forces exerted on the particles. Once the particle density is known, the particle size can be determined. The possible error sources are evaluated based on the EAB method and the measurement procedures. As a result, the measured mean diameters and expanded uncertainties for the two particles are 109.0 nm +/- 1.2 nm and 529.4 nm +/- 1.3 nm, respectively, for the EAB system. 

nanoparticle size; measurement uncertainty; electro-gravitational aerosol balance