Size-resolved source apportionment of aerosol particles using polycapillary X-ray lens with a plateau in its focal spot

A laboratory micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometer based on a special polycapillary X-ray lens (PXRL) was used to carry out the source apportionment of aerosol particles. In the curve of the distribution of the X-ray intensity in the focal spot of the special PXRL, there was a plateau with a diameter of 21.3 μm in which the distribution of the X-ray intensity was homogeneous. The gain in flux density in the plateau of the PXRL is 1490. The uniformity of this plateau was 2.9%. This was helpful for the quantitative X-ray fluorescence analysis of a single aerosol particle with smaller size than that of the plateau of the PXRL. The fingerprint database of aerosol particles with given sizes from various air pollution sources was established with the single particle analysis method. The size-resolved source apportionment of aerosol particles in haze in Beijing city was performed with this fingerprint database.