Evaluation of methods for measuring graphene in air

Research Project, 2023

Purpose and goal
The aim was to generate and evaluate different techniques for measuring graphene in air. The project was carried out at a laboratory in Germany. The experiments were carried out according to plan. We generated an aerosol from 11 different graphene materials (graphene, graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene nanoplatelets) from different manufacturers. We measured the aerosol with several different direct-reading techniques that measure particles in different size ranges (SMPS, OPC, AAC, microaethelometer) and collected generated samples for analysis with SEM.

Expected results and effects
We generated a stable aerosol for some of the materials (mainly for graphene oxide) but for some of the others (graphene and graphene nanoplatelets) we saw that the materials agglomerated into large particles which could not reach the exposure chamber. For graphene oxide, we were able to generate a stable monodispersive aerosol. There we could clearly see that different instrument types (detection methods) gave different results for the size of the same material. The experiments have helped us interpret measurement data in actual work environments, which was the goal of the project.