Microdrop Deposition Technique: Preparation and Characterization of Diluted Suspended Particulate Samples

Condensed Matter

Marcelli, Augusto¹  Macis, Salvatore²  Delmonte, Barbara³  Maggi, Valter⁴  Baccolo, Giovanni⁵  D’Elia, Alessandro⁶  Cibin, Giannantonio⁷  Hampai, Dariush⁸ 

[1] Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.;Department of Mathematics and Physics, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, Italy;Department of Physics, University of Trieste, Via A. Valerio 2, 34127 Trieste, Italy;Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, UK;Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente e della Terra, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza, 1-20126 Milano, Italy;Istituto Officina dei Materiali, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Basovizza SS-14, km 163.5, 34149 Trieste, Italy;Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, 00044 Frascati, Italy;Sezione di Milano-Bicocca, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Piazza della Scienza, 3-20126 Milano, Italy

关键词: ultra-dilution;    droplets;    water;    evaporation;    X-ray fluorescence;   

DOI  :  10.3390/condmat3030021

学科分类：凝聚态物理

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The analysis of particulate matter (PM) in dilute solutions is an important target for environmental, geochemical, and biochemical research. Here, we show how microdrop technology may allow the control, through the evaporation of small droplets, of the deposition of insoluble materials dispersed in a solution on a well-defined area with a specific spatial pattern. Using this technology, the superficial density of the deposited solute can be accurately controlled. In particular, it becomes possible to deposit an extremely reduced amount of insoluble material, in the order of few μg on a confined area, thus allowing a relatively high superficial density to be reached within a limited time. In this work, we quantitatively compare the microdrop technique for the preparation of particulate matter samples with the classical filtering technique. After having been optimized, the microdrop technique allows obtaining a more homogeneous deposition and may limit the sample amount up to a factor 25. This method is potentially suitable for many novel applications in different scientific fields such as demanding spectroscopic studies looking at the mineral fraction contained in ice cores or to pollution investigations looking at the detection of heavy metals present in ultra-trace in water.

【 授权许可】

CC BY