The Characterisation of Settled Dust by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis

Abstract

Settled dust has been collected inside the main foyers of three University buildings in Wolverhampton City Centre, UK. Two of the three buildings are located in a street canyon used almost exclusively by heavy duty diesel vehicles. The dust was collected on adhesive carbon spectro-tabs to be in a form suitable for analysis by scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Using these analytical techniques, individual particle analysis was undertaken for morphology and chemistry. Seasonal variations and variations due to location were observed in both the morphological measurements and chemical analysis. Many of the differences appear attributable to the influence of road traffic, in particular, the heavy duty diesel vehicles, travelling along the street canyon. (Springer Verlag)