People spend about 80-90% of their time indoors. Compared to outdoor air quality, the indoor air quality is more relevant to people’s health. Therefore, understanding the levels, sources and evolution of particulate matter (PM) indoors is important for the accurate evaluation of people’s health risks to aerosol exposure.
A research team led by Prof. Yele Sun from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences deployed a time-of-flight aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ToF-ACSM) to measure time series and mass spectra of non-refractory species in a typical academic office in IAP. The study was published in Indoor Air.
The researchers measured the concentration and chemical composition of indoor PM2.5 for one month along with simultaneous measurements outdoors. They also performed the open-close window and the dampness experiments in order to figure out the mechanism of indoor/outdoor air exchange, and the influence of increased humidity on the indoor PM2.5. [Read more…] about Study helps to better understand the link between indoor and outdoor air quality