Airborne particulate matter classification and concentration detection based on 3D printed virtual impactor and quartz crystal microbalance sensor

This paper reports a miniature system for detection of airborne particulate matter (PM), which contains a virtual impactor and a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) resonant sensor. Silicon dioxide powders with diameter in the range from 0.5 to 8 μm are successfully separated by the virtual impactor according to their size. PM concentration in a chamber is measured by the proposed monitoring system and the experimental results show that the resonant frequency of the QCM turns downward linearly with the PM mass loading increasing. The proposed monitoring system can complete measurement of PM concentration of 35 μg/m3 in only 23 seconds.