Size Distribution of Particulate Matter in Indoor Environment During Nanomaterial Paint Application

Abstract

Due to the increasing production and development of nanoparticles, it has become necessary to control the exposure to ultrafineparticles (aerodynamic diameter < 0.1 μm) when handling nanopaints. The paper deals with the number and mass distributionof particulate matter (PM) in an indoor environment before, during and after the application of paint Protectam FN containingtitanium nanoparticles. The size distribution determination was performed by the electrical low-pressure cascade impactor (ELPI+)in the range from 0.006 μm to 9.93 μm. The highest number of particles was observed in the range from 0.006 to 0.0175 μm. Theparticulate mass concentration ranging from 0.0175 to 0.0307 μm did not represent more than 0.5% of the sum of PM10 during theindividual measurements. The particle mass concentration increased in the range of 0.0175 to 0.0307 μm, after application of thecoating nanopaint Protectam FN, but it was observed that the total number of particles has decreased. During the days followingthe application of the nanopaint, the mass concentration in this grain size class was significantly reduced.