IBIL Analysis of Road Dust from the “Traforo del San Bernardo” Tunnel

Road dust is composed by natural and anthropogenic particles, to be collected on surface and along roadsides. This material contributes significantly to atmospheric particulate matter by resuspension of finer particles [1]. In urban, suburban or industrial centers, it may even represents the dominant source of PM10 (particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 m). The objectives of this work are: i) to characterize the road dust from the “Traforo del San Bernardo” tunnel and some materials taken as the possible sources of particulate matter at issue, and ii) to assess the potential application of Ion Beam Induced Luminescence (IBIL) for the characterization of complex environmental matrices. This research is innovative since IBIL has never been used so far to probe this kind of matrices.