Real-time multielement monitoring of airborne particulate matter using ICP-MS instrument equipped with gas converter apparatus

The real-time multielement monitoring of airborne particulate matter (APM) was carried out using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) instrument equipped with a newly developed gas converter apparatus. By using the gas converter apparatus, gas molecules in the air sample and Ar molecules were almost completely exchanged and the gas-converted air sample could be directly introduced into ICP-MS instruments. Fe in clean room and outdoor air samples was directly measured using the ICP-MS instrument equipped with the converter apparatus. The signal intensities of Be, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Tl, Pb, Bi, Th, and U in the outdoor air sample were successfully measured at every 8 min for 77 h.