DETECTION OF ATMOSPHERIC CONTAMINANTS IN AEROSOLS BY SURFACE-ENHANCEDRAMAN-SPECTROMETRY

Surface-enhanced Raman spectrometry (SERS) has been evaluated as a new technique for detection of trace amounts of atmospheric contaminants in aerosols. An inexpensive and straightforward procedure for aerosol sampling based on collection onto an untreated solid substrate was use d, SERS-active substrates were prepared by in-situ chemical reduction of silver or by deposition of a silver hydrosol on filter paper, Sensi tive and reproducible methods for determination of atmospheric polluta nts with limits of detection at the ng level are presented. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science B.V.