A quasi-monodisperse aerosol generator used in radioactive nanoparticle simulation

An evaporation-condensation-type aerosol generator capable of producing quasi-monodisperse and high number concentration nanoparticles was developed. Using a calibrated Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), the generator performance under different operation conditions was evaluated by means of on-line monitoring of the size distributions of the generated nanoparticle. Results show that the size distributions of the generated nanoparticles agree well with lognormal distribution. The mode diameter is about 30 nm under proposed conditions. The geometric standard deviation is about l.3, which means that the particles are quasi-monodisperse. The number concentration could achieve 10⁶ cm^-3 and the variation is less than l0%. The generator has advantages of low cost, reliable performance, and easy-to-use. It could fulfill the requirements for the simulation study on radioactive aerosol and filtration techniques development of nanoparticles. (authors)