Assay of carbon nanoparticles in liquids

The critical assay of carbon black concentration suffers from the lack of available methods, especially in-situ methods suitable for nanoparticles. We propose a useful tool for monitoring carbon nanoparticles concentration in liquids by means of RGB imaging, fluorescence and conductivity measurements. In this study carbon black particles of 25-75 nm size were dispersed within two types of “green” liquids (1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium based ionic liquids and glycerol) and the effect of carbon nanoparticles concentration on the liquids properties was measured. The conductivity of all the liquids increased with carbon concentration, while the slope of the curve was liquid dependent. The fluorescence intensity of ionic liquids decreased dramatically even when a small amount of carbon was added, while water-containing ionic liquids had a more moderate behavior. Glycerol has no native fluorescence, therefore, a known tracer present in soot (dibenzothiophene), having a characteristic fluorescence monitored by synchronous scan mode, was used. The carbon black effect on RGB imaging shows a linear dependence, while the red counts decreases with contamination. The proposed methods are simple and low-cost but nonetheless sensitive.