Aerosol impactor with embedded MEMS resonant mass balance for real-time particulate mass concentration monitoring

This work presents integration of a MEMS resonant mass balance within an aerosol impactor capable of sampling airborne micro to nanoscale particles. The resonant mass balance provides real-time high resolution information on particulate mass concentrations, which is a unique capability for miniaturized aerosol impactors. A relatively simple approach has been devised to overcome the main challenge of aligning the microscale resonant devices to the impactor nozzle. Tests performed on air samples from different environments with different particle mass concentrations ranging from 0.02-0.4μg/m³ demonstrate a clear correlation between the resonator response and the expected particle concentrations (particles larger than 130nm).