Design and fabrication of an electrostatic precipitator for infrared spectroscopy

Abstract. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is a direct measurement technique for chemical characterization of aerosols that can be applied without solvent extraction thermal treatment priori. This has been used speciation, source apportionment, and detailed the complex organic fraction atmospheric particles. Currently, most IR analyses are performed by transmission through porous membranes on which particles collected via filtration. The membrane materials interfere with spectra scattering absorption not only make extracting information aerosol harder but also limit lower extent detection. An alternative method does inherit such limitations to collect an transparent material. We present electrostatic precipitator (ESP) design enables measurements collection zinc selenide (ZnSe) crystal. Through numerical simulations rapid prototyping 3D printing, we fabricate device tested polydispersed ammonium sulfate evaluate quantitative composition estimates against particle count reference. Furthermore, image analysis procedure using variable aperture spectrometer, analyze radial mass distribution. collector high efficiency (82 ± 8 %) linear response loading (R2 > 0.94) semi-uniform deposition. fabrication transferable other applications, current ESP provide directions further improvements.