DEVICE FOR COLLECTING PARTICLES CONTAINED IN AN AEROSOL, COMPRISING ELECTROMETRES TO DETERMINE NANOPARTICLE CONCENTRATION AND PARTICLE SIZE

摘要

The invention relates to a method and device for collecting nanoparticles which may be present in an aerosol. The invention consists of electrostatically collecting nanoparticles contained in an aerosol by a mechanism of particle charging by unipolar ion diffusion, followed by the application of a field without a corona effect, which makes it possible to deposit the particles in concentric rings on different parts of a single flat substrate oriented orthogonally to the aerosol circulation direction. The biggest particles are deposited towards the centre of the flat substrate and the finest particles towards the periphery of the flat substrate. The invention also relates to a method of operation and to the use of such a device for evaluating the exposure of workers or consumers to nanoparticles.