Advanced optical detection of carbon nanoparticles

Much of the outdoor air pollution originates from the combustion of fossil fuels. Current air pollution is associated to various adverse health effects. For example, combustion-related particulate matter (PM) air pollution, particularly black carbon (BC), can cause long term health effects, and results in cardiovascular, chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer. It is very important to measure the effects of black carbon on human health, and in most epidemiological studies the exposure to PM air pollution is not measured at the level of individual persons. Although there are different methods available to measure the polluted air, but most of these methods lack the flexibility of direct detection of black carbon in the relevant samples. Recently, detection of carbon black particles using pulsed laser illumination in a label free manner has been reported, and further investigations of black carbon using optical characterization techniques could be a key step to measure the exposure to air pollution for individual persons. Hence, the main goal of this project is to address different questions from characterization of the material composition and size of the particles to the application of developed techniques with medical and environmental relevance. By using advanced optical techniques, not only we plan to characterize black carbon, but also other fine particles responsible for air pollution. We also aim to explain the mechanism behind white light generation by carbon black under pulsed laser illumination.