Metrology infrastructure for airborne nanoparticles

Project Description

There is an increasing recognition that a metrology infrastructure is needed to support the measurement of nanoparticles. This is driven in part by the need to monitor and control the presence of nanoparticles in the ambient and workplace atmospheres and also by the increasing use of engineered nanoparticles to develop materials with novel and improved properties. A limited amount of activity is underway and being planned within some laboratories of EUROMET to address these needs, but there has been no formal effort at coordination.

The aim of this project is to establish the requirements for coordination of activity within EUROMET aimed at the development of a metrology infrastructure for nanoparticles.

The objectives are:

  • to share information about plans for research and facilities
  • to establish liaison between the project partners and relevant shared-cost actions under FP6 and FP7


Activities that will be considered will include: the characterization and measurement of nanoparticles according to different quantities of measurement, the calibration of monitoring instruments and the extent of contribution to CEN (and ISO) standards.

The objectives of the project will be achieved by holding:

  • a setup meeting for those EUROMET laboratories interested in the project
  • a workshop to bring together EUROMET laboratories and representatives of the communities most interested in nanoparticle metrology
     

The results of the project will be reported back to METCHEM (interim report February 2007, final report February 2008). They will include a proposal for a collaborative research project within the EUROMET iMERA framework.
 A wide range of measurands are used to quantify nanoparticles (eg size, surface area, mass, concentration and chemical composition). Since they are handled using the same equipment and procedures used for gas metrology, activities in many EUROMET laboratories in this area are led by scientists with a chemistry background.


Final Report 2011-04-30

The aim of the project is to establish the requirements for coordination of activity within EUROMET aimed at the development of a metrology infrastructure for nanoparticles.
This was achieved through two workshops: 

The first workshop was held at BAM in Berlin (9-10 October 2007) with participation from: BAM,  METAS, NPL, PTB, LNE and VNIIM (Russia) focused on external requireents from ISO and CEN as well as indistry and regulators.
The second at NPL (Teddington) 8 - 9 Jun 2010 was entitles "Metrology of Airborne Nanoparticles, Standardisation and Applications (MANSA)".  

This project was closeley linked to EURAMET project 1027 Comparison of combustion particle number concentration and size.

Subjects
Metrology in Chemistry (MC)
Coordinator
Martin Milton, NPL (United Kingdom)
Coordinating Institute
NPL (United Kingdom)