Abstract：
Ultrasonic humidifiers are commonly used in households to maintain indoor humidity and generate a large number of droplets or spray aerosols. However, there have been various health concerns associated with humidifier use, largely due to aerosols generated during operation. Here, we investigated the size distribution, chemical composition, and charged fraction of aerosol particles emitted from commercial ultrasonic humidifiers. Heavy metals in water used for humidifiers were found to be highly enriched in the ultrasonic humidifier aerosols (UHA), with the enrichment factors ranging from 102 to 107. This enrichment may pose health concerns for the building occupants, as UHA concentrations of up to 106 particles/cm3 or 3 mg/m3 were observed. Furthermore, approximately 90% of UHA were observed to be electrically charged, for the first time according to our knowledge. Based on this discovery, we proposed and tested a new method to remove UHA by using a simple electrical field. The designed electrical field in this work can efficiently remove 81.4% of UHA. Therefore, applying this electrical field could be an effective method to significantly reduce the health risks by UHA.
摘要：
超声波加湿器通常用于家庭以保持室内湿度并产生大量的液滴或喷雾气溶胶。然而,有各种与加湿器使用相关的健康问题，主要是由于操作过程中产生的气溶胶。这里,我们调查了大小分布，化学成分,和从商业超声波加湿器发出的气溶胶颗粒的带电部分。发现用于加湿器的水中的重金属在超声加湿器气溶胶（UHA）中高度富集，富集系数在102到107之间。这种浓缩可能会给建筑居住者带来健康问题，观察到UHA浓度高达106个颗粒/cm3或3mg/m3。此外，观察到大约90％的UHA带电，根据我们的知识，这是第一次。基于这一发现,我们提出并测试了一种通过使用简单的电场来去除UHA的新方法。在这项工作中设计的电场可以有效地去除81.4％的UHA。因此,应用该电场可能是UHA显着降低健康风险的有效方法。
