The study of PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 characterisation in Nigeria Cities using Ion beam analytical technique (Metadata RADIATE TA Proposal 21002408-ST)

Proposal title "The study of PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 characterisation in Nigeria Cities using Ion beam analytical technique". Measurements carried out at the external beam set-up for atmospheric aerosol analysis of the INFN LABEC accelerator laboratory, from 18 till 22 March 2022, on 5 May 2022 and from 17 till 18 April 2023. Hands-off mode.

About 511 samples of particulate matter (254 of PM2.5 and 257 of PM2.5-10 fractions) deposited on a Teflon and polycarbonate nuclepore filters (47 mm in diameter with pore size, 0.8 μm and 0.4 μm respectively) were collected from 2019 to 2022 from six different monitoring stations in Lagos city. Nigeria, being the most populated country in Africa, faces huge challenges of air pollution.

The samples were measured by PIXE technique with a proton beam of 3 MeV energy and a few tens nA to determine their elemental compositions. In particular, elemental concentrations of major elements such as Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Fe, Zn and Pb which are mostly fingerprint elements of soil dust, sea spray, biomass burning and industrial emissions stood out for both fractions across Lagos city.