A comparison between PIXE and ICP-AES measurements of metals in aerosol particulate collected in urban and marine sites in Italy

PIXE and ICP-AES techniques are largely used in atmospheric aerosol studies. Since PIXE is able to provide the total elemental concentrations, while ICP-AES results depend on the extraction conditions, parallel PIXE and ICP-AES measurements of Fe, Al, Cu, Pb, Mn, Cr, Ni, V, As on PM10 and PM2.5 samples were compared. Two extraction procedures were applied to samples from 5 sites at different anthropization level in Italy: a "weak" extraction (HNO3 at pH = 1.5) and a "strong" extraction (micro-wave oven in HNO3 and H2O2 - following EU rules).